Kingdom Hearts: Lost Reason
by DivineThr33
Summary: Taisuke wants to change history. Patty just wants to bring her brother back. These tales from these brave adventurers will test how far they are willing to go to find what they seek by cleaving the era saved by Sora and his friends. However, the farther they travel through Castle Mordan, the more dangerous their journey will become. Will they obtain their true desires? Or fade out?
1. Prologue

**Prologue: The descendants**

_Two Keyblade masters. One born from the darkness whiles the other born of the light. One would open the door to the forbidden kingdom while the other would help the Queen return to her rightful throne and consume the remaining worlds into the abyss. I've always dreaded those words from that fading soldier. Why was I born of the darkness? Was this some kind of a joke? There's nothing I can do now. What is my reason for living? Perhaps this next step will open my eyes to what I seek._

Simple and Clean ~Intro~

You're giving me  
Too many things, lately  
You're all I need  
You smiled at me, and said

Don't get me wrong I love you  
But does that mean I have to meet your father?  
When we are older you'll understand what I meant when I said no  
I don't think life is quite that simple

When you walk away  
You don't hear me say  
Please, oh baby don't go  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go

Hold me, whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a little later on  
Regardless of warnings  
The future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before

Hold me, whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a little later on  
Regardless of warnings  
The future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before

_I can see her. The hearts are falling in front of us as we try to float over to each other. We reach out our hands but are unable to grab hold. Her eyes are closed. I know what she's thinking: Nothing more than revenge on the ones who took her brother away. Who could blame her? It's their fault. He had done nothing wrong, but now that he's gone all she desires is to destroy those who wronged her and then plunge into the darkness to save him. What am I thinking? To change history to undo this curse brought upon me by those troublesome key welders. It is because of one of their dying words that drove my home to fear me. So now I am taking this chance to use what light is left in me to clear myself of this history once in for all. I hope that Raymond will forgive me. For raising my arm to such a selfish act._

~Patty's side~

"Take good care of Patty okay? Make sure she does her work. I want my sister to be the greatest queen anyone has ever seen before. Just like our Grandmother."

"Wait Lord Raymond. What about you? You're the destined king of the family."

"The public doesn't trust me, remember? Our mother abandon Patty when she only three and took me to live in another part of Pangaea. Recalling that moment, they only see a garbage man... me. Which is why when Patty turns 16, I want you to find her a faithful husband who would do well as a king. I'm going to be turning over my title soon and leaving this place. It's clear to me the elders don't want me around, so it's best that when I turn 18 that I depart rather than take the throne. Besides, I think the public would want that as well."

"Lord Raymond..."

"I'm counting on you, okay? I'm heading to Last Resort. You do where that world is, right?"

"Oh my Lord! Don't go there! That place is the meeting ground of those who gave into the darkness. No one, as faithful as you, should step forth in such a place. You would disappear for good if they found out who you were."

"I know. I'm heading there to make sure they keep their hands off of Patty because I know when the time comes, they'll come after her. You must protect her for me. Promise me."

The servant looked at the golden haired youth and did nothing more but bow and carry out the order he was given. The young man then left the castle. The princess, who was eavesdropping as usual, watch her brother leave the castle. Thinking that he was going to do another errand run, she returned to her bed, reading the volumes of Kilala Princess.

"Well my brother is off to another adventure again. I wonder what great journey he's going to now." As she viewed the pages in the manga, she closed her eyes. "I wish I could be like Kilala. Finding time to see the Princesses of Heart and fall in love with a cute prince. And here I am, in a boring Castle trapped behind these walls while my cousin Tai is off fighting monsters and my brother doing treaties and viewing the worlds. I wish I could go somewhere beyond this dusty place." She then felt her frustration come up and for her use of venting, she threw the first volume of Kilala Princess to the wall. "This sucks; Both my life being here and this stupid manga series!" She placed her head down on her bed sheets and then lifted her head to view the window. As she got up, she looked down at one of the soldiers training in the garden. It was Guy, a long time friend of her brother's since he was 12. Not wanting to stay in her room, Patty grabbed the family treasured scythe off the wall of the throne room and headed out to train with Guy. As she comes down, she sees him striking at stationed wooden targets.

"Hello Guy."

He stops swinging his sword and looks at Patty.

"Oh! Hello your majesty. What are you doing in the garden? Shouldn't you be practicing on casting spells with the head sorcerers?"

"As if! I don't want to stay in that castle forever. I'm so bored. My brother gets to explore the world. My cousin battles giant heartless everyday living in the mountain area. And here I am, stuck in a castle doing nothing but reading and writing pointless papers. I want to see the world, fight monsters, meet new friends, and fall in love. Not get into an arrange marriage with someone I barely know! You do understand what I'm talking about, don't you Guy?"

"You seem like you don't want to be a princess anymore or even a queen at most. Did you talk to Lord Raymond to ask for a resignation of your title?"

"I don't have to because he already made up his mind. He's going to resign himself and have me placed in an arranged marriage. I hate it. It's the worst thing he could have thrown at me since the day he told me about Grandma's death. Also, he says that he's planning to go to Last Resort. Where ever that is."

Guy's eyes dilated from her answer in fear.

"Last Resort? Oh no! Raymond shouldn't be going back to that place. What is he thinking?"

"What's wrong Guy?"

"Last Resort is a world owned by those who have already given themselves to the darkness. Ever since the incident 50 years ago, that place has been nothing more than a crime din for those who escape their world and would rather head there than go to Traverse's Town for shelter. They are those who don't want to give up what the darkness has given them. Raymond hasn't been living on their streets for almost six years now since Sylvia went there and rescued him. You better talk to the elders about this. I got a bad feeling he might be in over his head."

"I will. Thank you."

As she started to run Guy called back.

"My lady!" She turned around. "If you ever change your mind with exploring the world, I'd be happy to... oh never mind. This is obviously your decision. Not mine."

"You're a good friend Guy. I'm glad my brother brought you here to be my guard and to serve our kingdom. However, I will be 16 soon, meaning that I will become a true lady. Please do not stop me unless it's an order from my brother. Then I won't object."

"Lady Priscilla..."

She then ran back inside to meet with the elders to help assist her brother who had recently departed. As she ran, a strange figure then appeared before her.

"Don't go to the elders. They won't help your brother. And leave that weapon here. It won't provide much protection for what lies ahead."

"Wah! Who are you?"

"My name is of no importance. However, my purpose in seeing you is to warn you that your brother is in grave danger."

"Raymond is in trouble?"

"Yes."

"Oh no! What am I going to do? Where is he?"

"Do you want to know?"

"Yes! Please tell me!"

"Okay. It's Last Resort." She looked at the hooded stranger in shock. "Do not panic. There is still time. Go ask the servant your brother talked to. Ask for the black robe. Once you find it, meet me outside the castle walls."

He disappeared. Patty held her heart tightly, dropped the scythe, and ran to the servant that she overheard her brother talking to before he had left.

"Carran!"

"Ah Lady Priscilla. What are you doing outside of your room? You should be studying your magic, remember?"

"Carran, where's my brother's black robe?"

"It's in his room. Lady Priscilla, what's wrong?"

"I need it."

"I don't trust your tone. Lady Priscilla, what are you up to this time?"

"I'm going for a walk. I need it for protection. Don't follow me, okay?"

She then left for Raymond's room and took the black robe from the back of his door. Putting it on, she viewed the walls of the castle one last time, knowing that what she was about to would rid her of the title that she had held for the last 15 years: Princess Cornell. Knowing that the Elders won't do a thing for her brother, Patty decided to depart for the outside world: To Last Resort. With her heart prepared, Patty opened the window of her brother's room and jumped to the bottom. Using the secret passage leading out of the castle from the garden, she met up with the stranger in the thicket of trees. He noticed her walking in her brother's black robe.

"So you've come?"

"Take me to my brother. I don't have much time now."

"I will. Before we go, come closer. There is something I need to do to keep you safe." She walked over to the stranger. Taking his hand, he leveled it to her chest. A small light left from her body and entered into his hand. She then patted her body, wondering what he did. "Do not worry. I removed the essence that would attract heartless. The reason why some people are able to survive Last Resort is that some have to give up something that they feel the heartless would go after. For you, I took something that they would target. Now that it's gone, they will never bother you." He then turned around and opened a portal in front of her. "Go. Raymond is on the other side."

With this, Patty, jumped through the portal.

"Hang on brother! I'm coming to save you!"

~Taisuke's side~

He was five years old when the air ship crashed near the ruins of Castle Mordan. The air ship was wrecked by the hands of the heartless, consuming those who were on board except that one boy. Ever since the day the heartless took his mother away, and made his father abandon him, Taisuke lived his life as a black sheep in the cold village near Castle Mordan. No one wanted to go close to him because the heartless never brought harm to him. Perhaps they thought he called the heartless during a small tantrum that caused the lives of hundreds on board. Perhaps it was because of his father abandoning him that the village didn't want to help him, feeling that he should have vanished just as the others did on board that airship. However, it was because of the elders that he was shunned away from the public. They had said that he was the destined child that would be born from the darkness and who would awaken the dreaded Queen of Darkness from her deep slumber to reunite her with her lost home, Kingdom Hearts, and consume the remaining worlds that survived that terrible war many decades ago. All this originated from the fallen words of a Keyblade master who fell decades before that warned of such a disaster. Because of those words, Tai loathed the Keyblade masters.

Now Tai was 17 when it came time for the ceremony of the descendants. The village was holding an annual celebration for his long time rival, Trace. He was 18 years old and was favored from the village to become the next Keyblade master who would save the remaining worlds from becoming consumed by the heartless. Before he could be given the key, the elder decided to ask the heirs of the village what they would do if they were chosen as Keyblade master. Each one answered with questions either reasonable or just silly. Tai stood from the distance watching the ceremony on top the hill. His friend was about to be given the title that stained Tai's existence.

Why me mother? What did I do to deserve this? They say the Keyblade has the power to make the welder's wish in their hearts come true, but is even the truth at all? Trace's wish is futile and silly. He wishes for everyone to live in good health and prosperity. If I were chosen, I would have said that I would use the Keyblade to go back in time to undo this wretched future. I don't care if everything fades away. What good was it for me to live?

After everyone had finished, Trace was given the Keyblade. With it, he struck the door of Castle Mordan, proposing it to be open for all to view. Tai, knowing that he is not supposed to enter the village, put on his black robe and walked through the village and into the castle. Now Castle Mordan was an ancient structure of unknown origins. No one knows where it truly came from. What they did know was that it was a castle that mysteriously showed up 50 years ago during the Great War. The contents within it were collected by who the castle was named after before his disappearance 30 years ago: Professor Mordan; as they held relics from worlds that no longer existed. From a measly paint brush with dried out thinner and paint, to a room of ten pedestals with a mural on the center wall. Each pedestal having a symbol that resembled a heart. The mural resembled a woman wearing a silver tiara and a black heart mask on her head with a grey dress and a heart shaped hole on her left breast. She was sitting down on what appeared to be a throne, holding a long scythe as a specter to proclaim her power over all who were below her. A perfect portrait for mocking those who entered the room.

_Wow! She's beautiful, but why is she so pale? Her hair is silver and her skin appears to be white as snow. I don't know the color of her eyes because of the mask on her face, but because it only covers her eyes I know that her favorite color lipstick is blue. As if I had anything better to look at. What man would fall for that type of woman anyway? She kind of looks like a kid.  
_  
He then looked at the letters under the mural. According to the elders, the mural had words that no one could read. However, Tai was the only one who could understand what they were saying.

"The Queen of Darkness? Bizarre... at least I know now why she looks inhuman. Too bad those old dust bags know nothing about her. I wonder... could she have been the ruler of this castle? And if so, when and where did it come from? Also, what are these pillars for? They appear to be for ten items to be placed on them."

~Patty's side~

As the pre cautious Patty entered into the cloudy world, she took notice of the people who passed by holding swords and those sitting on the sidewalk looking to the sky. Small, broken buildings ran through the street she walked on. Walking through, she saw in the distance a large crowd gathering around the center area of the world. As she walked in the general direction, a man stopped her from getting closer.

"Whoa, there son! You don't want to go over there."

"Why not? What's going on?"

"You must not be from around here. If you were, you would have gotten the news that a dangerous criminal has been caught and is now being fed to the heartless. Then again, he had it coming. All those people who ran into him and bumped the side of his emerald sword died within a few second without him drawing it. He must be some vicious monster from one of those rogue worlds. Good thing no one will be seeing his golden hair top around here again." Patty's heart started to race from the man's words as a flashback of her brother's voice echoed in her mind while she took off to find him. In the distance, walls were crashing down, roads were being destroyed, and cheers were filling the air.

_"Take good care of Patty okay? Make sure she does her work. I want my sister to be the greatest queen anyone has ever seen before. Just like our Grandmother."_

"Wait Lord Raymond. What about you? You're the destined king of the family."

"The public doesn't trust me, remember? Our mother abandon Patty when she only three and took me to live in a poor part of our kingdom. Recalling that moment, they only see a garbage man... me. Which is why when Patty turns 16, I want you to find her a faithful husband who would do well as a king. I'm going to be turning over my title soon and leaving this place. It's clear to me the elders don't want me around, so it's best that when I turn 18 that I depart rather than take the throne. Besides, I think the public would want that as well."

"Lord Raymond..."

"I'm counting on you, okay? I'm heading to Last Resort. You do where that world is, right?"

"Oh my Lord! Don't go there! That place is the meeting ground of the past and present. No one as faithful as you should step forth in such a place. You would disappear for good if they found out who you were."

"I know. I'm heading there to make sure they keep their hands off of Patty because I know when the time comes, they'll come after her. You must protect her for me. Promise me."  
  
As she weaved her way through the thick crowd, there it was. The view for all to see. A giant heartless lifted his large hand up above the people, holding the limp body of the young man that had been caught. After the heartless dropped him and disappeared, Priscilla ran to the body, as she had recognized the individual to be her brother.

"Raymond! Raymond! Oh no... his heart is gone... Raymond..."

As she wept over his body, the crowd looked at her confused.

"Who's this little brat? Should we call the heartless back to take care of him as well?"

"Why bother? He would get crushed faster! There's nothing less entertaining than watching a weakling get crushed. At least, the poor sap before him put up a fight. Besides, if we leave, I'm sure the heartless will come back and finish the job."

The clouds then roared and cracked. It started raining. With this, the crowd calmed down and looked at the sky. A man wearing a black robe then approached her as the crowd scattered after watching Raymond being smashed around like a rag doll.

"What's the matter child?"

She turned to the man and wiped her eyes.

"My brother... the heartless... they got my brother! What am I going to do now? He's gone forever!"

"Is he child? Or is he still alive but unable to upon his eyes?"

"What are you saying?"

"Even those with strong hearts can survive the deepest depths of the darkness. If your brother's body is still here, then it means the heartless could not completely consume him like other humans here. What am I saying, you ask? I am telling you that there is a way to save your brother from being swallowed whole into the shadows. If you wish to save him and bring him back, then you must go to the land where he could be in. You know this land because it is the same one that caused every world to merge together as one: KINGDOM HEARTS!"

She looked at him in fear.

"Kingdom... hearts? You want me... to go to the world of the Queen of Darkness and save him there? That's suicide! First of all, only those chosen by the Keyblade can go through that place and let's be honest, there hasn't been a chosen Keyblade master since that war 50 years ago."

"Child," He said placing his hand on her wet shoulder. "A Keyblade master has already been chosen." She looked at him. "Castle Mordan. There, you will find him."

"Castle Mordan? But that's where Taisuke lives. Why do you know-" She looked around and saw that the strange was no longer around. The portal she saw before arriving to Last Resort was now in front of her again. "He's gone." She then looked at Raymond. "I better bring him with me." She then took the limp body and left for Castle Mordan. After jumping through, she felt her shoulders become light each step she took. As she looked at Raymond's body, she saw it fade into light particles. "Oh no! Raymond! What have I done?" She then looked at the destination in front of her. "Castle Mordan. It's my only hope of saving my brother. I must be brave… for his sake. Raymond, do not worry about me. When I find the chosen Keyblade master, I will travel and find those responsible for sending that heartless to attack you. I promise you... revenge."

~Taisuke's side~

"Achoo!" Tai sniffled as he walked through the giant castle ruins. "Oh man. I normally don't do that unless I get a bad premonition. Or better yet, someone is walking over my grave."

"Tai, you can wear that robe all you want. You'll never fool me." Tai turned around. It was Trace. He stood away from him holding the key blade. "Why are you here, Tai? You know how crazy the people get whenever you're around."

"You don't have to remind me every time this happens." He brushed his sleeve with his hand. "It's odd. According to the legends, the key chooses its wielder based on their heart. So why it did not reject you when the elders placed it into your hands is a mystery all in itself."

"Not really kiddo. You see, ever since the passing of the original Keyblade masters, the elders discovered that without any good hearts left, they had to choose one out based on their preference. In order for anyone to use the key, they had to place a spell on it so it would remain here than disappear. I was chosen by pure coincidence. Had you been there, I'm sure they would have chosen you as well."

"Not in a million years. Those old geezers need to kick the bucket; otherwise I won't be able to live in peace at all. You may not see, but I do. Those old jerks compromised their hearts to serving Kingdom Hearts. If they chose you, it means they're making you into a meal fresh for the Queen of Darkness. That is, if she ever returns."

"Say whatever you want Tai. Your opinion means nothing to the village."

"That's what I thought."

The sound of footsteps then followed behind Tai.

"Hi Trace. Congrats on earning the title. Wow! I wish I had the key blade. I could leave my parent's shrine and be free from that old family tradition once and for all."

Trace then put the Keyblade down.

"Shalane! So great to see you!"

"Same to you too. And... oh. Hello Tai."

Tai did not answer back, but slowly stepped back and walked away. As he left he heard someone scream.

~Both sides~

"Ah! It's the Queen of Darkness! She's here!" A follow up of gasps and awe soon drew the attention to the room where the pedestals were. Tai walked over to the room, weaving through the crowd to see what was going on. One of the Elders, pushed him aside to see the person on the ground. "Elder! Cast a spell or something before she gets up!"

"What happened here?"

"I don't know Elder! I was just staring at this giant mural when this black hooded stranger came through. However, I know it's a girl! See for yourself and you will know as well."

The hooded figure then stood up and looked at the crowd. They then called out.

"Goodness, where did this crowd come from? Is this Castle Mordan or a large hotel?" Tai recognized the voice. gently pushing people aside, he made his way to the figure. The figure looked at him. "There you are! You told me to come here to save my brother. What did I do wrong, mister? My brother faded while I walked through the path carrying him." She looked at him and then looked at the face peaking through the hood. Tai took his index finger and put it close to his lips. He then took his hand and held Patty's arm to guide her to the second floor of the castle. As he left, the Elder, put his staff out.

"Halt! Who are you? And why are you here in Castle Mordan? Identify yourself!"

Patty looked at the mean looking old man and his shrine clothes. She knew he was an elder that looked over the village she traveled to so she knew right away that she was in the right place.

"I... am a messenger." The Elder looked at her with widen eyes. "I have come here to bear a message to the one you named the key blade's chosen one. Where is he? Let me see him." The Elder then pointed at Trace, who was speaking to Shalane outside of the room she had arrived in. The figure then looked at Tai. He shook his head side to side. Seeing this, she looked at the Elder. "Forgive me. I must have come at a bad time. For now, until I have recovered my power, let me see the inside of this Castle ruins. By doing so, I will assist the first path the Keyblade master must go to in order to save us from the Queen of Darkness." The people then nodded their heads and slowly scattered away from her and Tai, who was still holding her hand. She looked at him again. "You can let go of me now Tai. I know it's you."

"Patty, what are you doing here? Where's Raymond?"

She looked down.

"My brother... has been taken by the heartless, Tai. I have no one left to go to. The Elders back at castle Cornell can't help me. It is clear to me from the start that they have gone to the side of Kingdom Hearts. They desire to be at the side of the Queen when she returns."

"Don't blame you on that one. The Elders here are doing the same thing as well. I don't get it. How can they want the Keyblade master to save us from Kingdom Hearts when they're siding with the enemy to save themselves, but not the people they were suppose to protect? That makes no sense."

"Well, whatever the answer is, I don't know either. Anyhow, I'm glad you're here. I need your help. A figure told me to come to Castle Mordan to save my brother, but I don't want to take the Keyblade master with me."

"Why not? Trace seems to be fool proof. He's the dream person everyone wants: A strong, young man with a cool leveled head representing hope for the future; Even though they're destroying their future by listening to the Elders."

"You see Tai," She lifted her head up. "I can feel it. I can feel the Key's power. I've had this power since I was just a baby. My grandmother said it was a gift from my father, who I don't remember at all. It's resonating, but not strong enough. I think the Elders might have chosen the wrong person for the job. Despite the fact that the original Keyblade master departed and left his weapon with this village 50 years ago, it won't help anyone if the key isn't in the true wielder's hands. Besides, I need that key to help me find a way to bring my brother back. If that man isn't the chosen one, then we got to take the key back and find the true owner for the weapon."

"Patty, I'd love to help you, but you see I want nothing to do with that accursed key. You're going to have to steal it back yourself."

He crossed his arms while Patty placed her hands on her hips and scowled him.

"Okay! Be that way! I was going to help you accomplish the desire of your heart by changing history, since the blade has that power to, but seeing that you don't want to help me-"

"Wait! How are you certain that the Keyblade can do that?"

"My grandmother Sylvia has a thick tome full of history lying inside the castle library untouched for 30 years. After her death I went down there, found that giant book, and read it three times. It was pretty boring, but at least I know what we need to fulfill the desires of our hearts. The Keyblade."

"Okay. I'm convinced. All we have to do is to wait for Trace to fumble the blade and then we run off with it. One question, he carries it around where ever he goes. How are we going to get it away from him?"

"Act normal."

"How do you do that?"

"Look at the artifacts here Tai. There are relics from fallen worlds here. We need to appear to be examining them in order to wait for the opportunity. You see?"

"Okay. I guess."

"Good. Now come with me. There's something I want to see."

She then took off for the second floor. Tai tailed her until they reached the mural that she had gone through. They removed their hoods.

"You wanted to see this mural? Why?"

"Because look at her Tai. According to the writing here, this must be what the Queen of Darkness looks like in real life. Now it is true that no one has ever seen what she has looked liked because they have never seen her depart from her place in Kingdom Hearts. However, from the paint brush strokes here, there must have been a painter somewhere before our time that saw what she looked liked and made this mural. Also, the words resting underneath might be in a different language, but I can read it as well. It's in Latin though. Something I seldom speak unless I'm training with my guards at Castle Cornell. If we can get the key from Trace, we can use it to enter Kingdom Hearts to get my brother back, while you can find a way to alter time so that the curse can be removed, alright?" A ringing sound then befell the whole castle. Suddenly, the lights went out. "Oh no! A power outage? Why now?"

"Calm down Patty. I have a lighter in my pocket that's from my adopted father. Let me get it out." As he repeatedly tried to use the lighter, Patty jolted and let out a shriek. "What's wrong?" He finally got the flame to light.

"Tai, I think someone is following us." She shivered. "Just now, I felt someone breathe on my shoulders."

Tai looked around, moving the lighter slowly in the room.

"I don't see anyone. There's probably a draft somewhere around here that made you feel that. If someone is here, then we need to run. None of us have any weapons."

He then turned to the mural. On the grey dress was a message written in what appeared to be blue paint.

_Do you desire something?_

Patty jumped back surprised.

"What? Where did those words come from?"

Then the words changed and said: _Come to us._

Tai looked at the door and then at the floor. Blue and green foot prints were trailing through the door.

"What the? What is this?"

As both Tai and Patty walked out of the room, the ground then started rippling with blue liquid. As it expanded, the two teens jumped on opposite sides as the liquid then turned into a wall. Separated, they called to each other.

"Tai!"

"I'm okay! What the heck is going on? Where did this wall come from?"

"I don't know. Maybe when the people entered the castle, it might have woken the curse that probably was sleeping here for the last 50 years. I don't know if that's true, but I see no other way that it could be a lie. Grandma warned me about this Castle's history and to never go anywhere near it. I got a bad vibe about this. We need to find another way back to each other."

"Right!"

~Taisuke's side~

As they departed, Tai ran to the first floor to find a stairway back to Patty. As he ran he started to notice that the people that were viewing the artifacts were no longer there. Trace was gone as well as Shalane. However, the Keyblade was left behind. As he walked over to examine the Keyblade, he realized that the Keyblade was in the same area that Trace put it down to talk to Shalane.

"I don't know where everyone else went, but I guess they won't need this anymore."

As he picked up the large key, green words appeared in front of him on the wall: _Hello Tai._

"What do you want now? To tell me something that no one else knows?"

_Of course. I've known about you since your birth._

"Whatever. Say what you want, but if Trace isn't here, it means he wasn't the destined one for the key, was he?"

_He never was. You were. Why do you think all those people except you and your cousin disappeared when the darkness came through? It's because you are the chosen one._

"Huh?"

~Patty's side~

"I can't see anything. Could it kill them to use candles?" Tiny burst of little flames broke the darkness on the Candelabras. "Oh. That was kind of them. Now, where is Tai?" As she walked down the corridor, she started to notice that the artifacts looked different than before. The Paint brush at the end of the corridor, as well as the paint and thinner cups, looked restored to their normal form and the cups looked full of the contents within. The tip of the brush had color on it. Patty looked at the name. "The paint brush and paint and thinner cups of Yen Cid? Who's that? Funny, the color of the thinner and paint look like the liquids Tai and I saw in the room with the pedestals. I wonder..."

She removed the brush off the stand, causing the cups of paint and thinner to disappear. As she looked at the brush in her hand, words then appeared on the wall.

_Good choice. That will provide useful for the test you shall undergo, your Highness._

"Huh? A test?"

_That's right. Two Keyblade masters... One born from the darkness and the other born of the light... One would open the door to the forbidden kingdom... while the other would help the Queen return to her rightful throne... and consume the remaining worlds... into the abyss._

"What? That can't be right! Wasn't a Keyblade master already chosen here? I didn't hear anything about the second one being found!"

_Yes... The two Keyblade masters have long been chosen... before they had arrived... One was born in a distant land and brought here through tragedy... while the other was born into royalty..._

"Wait a minute! One born in a distant land that was brought here... that sounds like Tai! That's impossible!"

_Do you doubt me?_ The door next to the mantle where the paint brush once rested opened up. _Step into the Darkness.._. Patty then entered into the door. As she walked the walls continued writing to her. _There you will see... that one's reason will be taken by the light... while the other... will be swallowed into the darkness..._

KINGDOM HEARTS: LOST REASON


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Time cleave! Monochrome land**

~Patty's side~

_Step into the Darkness..._ _There you will see... that one's reason will be taken by the light... while the other... will be swallowed into the darkness...  
_  
"Taken by the light? Swallowed into the darkness? I wonder what they're talking about."

Patty looked at the paint brush she carried alongside of her as candles in the corridors lit up every step she took. Soon, she reached another door. Gently pushing it open, she saw a model sitting still, covered in dust.

"Wasteland? The owner of this model is the same one that owns the paint brush as well as the paint and thinner cups. According to the quick description left behind by the relic hunter Professor Mordan, this was one of the earliest products created long before the world of Disney Castle, another world now long consumed by the darkness from the failing hands of one of the Keyblade masters. It was created as a world forgotten by time for those who were abandoned by their creator upon his impending death. Yen Sid kept this model up to his death, protecting it with his life when the Queen of Darkness ascended to eat the world. I wonder, why would such a man protect this tiny dusty model for so long? Just how old was he when the Queen left her throne and attacked 50 years ago?"

Light then slowly brighten the room, restoring the model to its original form. Patty, in curiosity, looked around the detailed structures.

"Strange the name of the model changed. Disney...land? What's that? Hm? Hey! There's ants moving in this thing. Gross! I hate ants!" She then took a closer look at the product. "Wait a second. Those are... animals walking like humans? Just what was the era like 50 years before Kingdom Hearts opened up?"

She then saw the wall writing to her again.

_Princess... there isn't much time. That world you see is about to vanish from existence._

"Vanish from existence? What are you talking about?"

_That world you see before needs to be time cleaved before the Queen or any of her minions can sense that it has been revived. Please Princess... you are their only hope._

"Time Cleaved? What does that mean? What do I have to do to save it?"

_The brush. Cast both paint and thinner upon the model to save it from the Queen. If she senses it, she will come and destroy it from history forever.  
_  
"The brush? How am I supposed to use this thing to save this model and why should I care? I don't even know any of those citizens down there."

_You must save this world. An element for its existence has been cleaved by an unknown entity and now its existence is at risk of being destroyed. Princess Cornell, save them. You are their only hope of survival. Aim the brush at them and with your heart, release your emotions upon the model.  
_  
Patty looked at the brush and then at the model. Holding it out like a sword, she aimed at the model. Thinking about her brother, a rippling puddle of paint and thinner then started swirling around her.

"Cor meum decurrit miseria. (My heart runs on misery.)"

As she held the brush close to her body in fear, the two liquids then encircled the model and created a blue and green colored door in front of her. After the paint and thinner died out, Patty walked to the door. Upon touching it, a burst of light engulfed her. As she woke up, she got up from the bed she had found herself in and walked around the room she was in. As she examined the wooden furniture and the colorful walls, a voice gently slipped through the door.

"Ah... you're awake. That's good. I was worried that you were in a coma."

"Um... thank you for taking care of me while I was passed out. By the way, I must forgive my rudeness, but... who are you? And what's with the get up? You like one of those ancient wizards that use to exist 100 years ago."

"You're attitude surprises me as well as your ignorance. I know nothing about what you speak of, but I must ask your name as well as that item you're carrying in your hand. It looks like the brush I used for a specific project that I am working on. A handy, but personal project you might say."

"Oh! I forgot about manners. I'm so sorry about that. My name is Princess Priscilla Cornell. I am the heir of Kingdom Cornell, a land beyond your world."

"And I am Lord Yen Sid, master of the arts and magic. Cornell? How odd. I've never heard of a world with that name. Does it exist? Or was it destroyed by the heartless like other countless worlds? The black robe you are wearing makes you appear as a thief. I know nothing about where you came from, but if you are here to take something from me then you must reconsider your crude decision. I found you lying on the floor of my workshop barely able to breathe after a large burst of light developed into my home and then vanished. I don't know why you have a brush that resembles the one I am using, but I cannot assume that it is a red herring because it works the same as the brush I have here in my home. Instead of asking where you came from, I should be asking when you came because there is no other brush like the one I have that exists in time yet." He then looked at her emerald eyes and realized that no one from the time he lived in had eyes that color yet. "Could it be...? Are you from... the future?"

"I guess you can say that. So you're Yen Sid, the man that the missing professor Mordan wrote so much about? I didn't think I would run into an old magician like yourself. Hearing your name at first, I wondered if at one point in time you were once a karate master or a lonely artist of some sort."

He then placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I can assure you child. I am none of those things. I am just someone trying to accomplish a longtime goal."

"What's that goal then?"

"Come child." He guided her to his workshop down the spiral stairs from the chamber she had woken from. Looking around, she saw the tools in the area of the workshop. The ones that hung from the walls were Sculpting tools, jewelry forging tools, stain glass tools, and on the table a paintbrush with cups of paint and thinner. Next to the items was a sepia tones model. No color had been added to it yet. However, Patty recognized it.

"I know this model. It had two names I think."

"Two names? My model has only one and I haven't revealed it to any one yet. Who told you so much about me?"

"Where I came from, there is a castle of unknown origin that contains many relics that hail long before the great war 50 years ago. Your products are one of them. A man named Professor Mordan was a relic hunter who found some of your surviving items. He researched them before placing them in his home, the castle itself. To the village that looked upon the castle, they saw him like a modern Chronis. It is because of him... that I discovered much about you and your model."

"I see. Tell me, are you a time traveler or Time Reaper? Either way, I might have no choice but to ask you to leave. I do not wish to know how my life ends."

"I wish I could leave, but there's a problem. I don't know how I came here and how I'm supposed to leave. The castle... I think it was talking to me. It wanted me to do something here, but I can't remember." The brush that Yen Sid had in his hand then suddenly started to flash. The uncolored model started to flash as well. "Ah! What's going on now?"

"The brush is reacting to the model, but why and for what purpose?"

Blue and green liquid then suddenly started to surround Patty, picking her up off her feet and carrying her into the model. Yen Sid reached forth to grab her hand as the splash of paint and thinner pulled her in. Only able to grab the paint brush, Patty was dragged off into the model. Upon awakening, she looked around the black and white surrounding the inside that she had arrived into. Viewing the paintbrush she had grabbed, she held tightly to it and started viewing the surrounding.

"Where am I? What am I doing here?" She then noticed the appearance of her hand. It was different than before. "What's going on? Everything is black and white. Could this be an effect from this world?"

Looking up, she saw a giant stain glass over her. The stain glass of a black rabbit with blue shorts on wearing a crown and a king's coat holding a sword and a scroll shown on the right of the black and white area. Finding the empty are uncivilly, she walked around examining the features within. There she found a clay figure shaped almost like the figure on the stain glass.

"Strange... this looks like that black rabbit. Except, he's made out of white clay."

As she started to walk away, the walls started writing to her.

_Use the paint brush. You need to free him. He will tell you what you must do to save his people and help you escape because there is something here that you must take back to Yen Sid. Protect him and his people and complete the test. Be quick. The enemy is drawing close.  
_  
"The paintbrush?" She looked at the brown tool and aimed at the clay figure. Blast of paint hit the clay figure and soon color filled the figure's body until the limbs started to move. "Ah! The paint brought the figure to life... but why?"

The rabbit then started talking.

"Ah! I'm saved. Who are you? Are you one of the forgotten as well?"

"I assure that I am anything but forgotten."

"Then that means the King of light must of heard our cries of help. Please! You have to help me save Ortensia and the citizens that came here as well before the monsters come and eat us."

"Who are you anyway? Where are your friends?"

"I'm Oswald, the lucky rabbit. Who are you stranger?"

"I am Princess Priscilla Cornell, heir of Kingdom Cornell from the unified world of Pangaea, the world that is many thanks to the opened world of Kingdom Hearts. For getting turned into a clay figure, that sounds like anything but lucky. Anyhow, where are your friends and why are you hear alone?"

"I don't know. I think they got scattered. I don't understand. Oh man. Why?"

"Huh?"

"After He left us behind, why did we have to come here and endure the Queen's wrath? This must be his doing! It's because that nut case caught a glimpse of her visit sometime ago before we got sent here and painted a mural of her that we suddenly became hunted."

"Who?"

A strange figure then appeared floating in front of Patty.

"It was the Mad Doctor. He was the one who brought this wrath upon us all. The world cannot gain true color as long as that mural is in his possession."

"Ah! Whoa! What are you?"

"How rude! I normally would be asked who instead of what. I am Gus, you're guide to this monochrome world. Who might you be, girl?"

"I am Princess Priscilla Cornell, heir of Kingdom Cornell. I am very sorry about the rude manner. It's just that... where I came from, I've never seen little people in suits floating in mid air before."

"You mean a Gremlin?"

"Wait! You're a Gremlin? That's odd. The history books must be a bit inaccurate because they characterized gremlins to be mechanical monsters, not small creatures."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but judging from your appearance, you must be from outside of our home. That black robe doesn't actually make you look like someone who can be trusted."

"I guess not. However, this is a token from my late brother, Raymond. He gave it to me." Her eyes then looked down. "Well, he didn't give it to me... truth be told, I stole it from his bedroom when he left our home. However, I have a reason so don't go pointing at me like I'm the bad guy here. I'm here to help you save your people. Please let me fight with you."

Suddenly three black creatures in the form of ants with yellow eyes appeared. Oswald then cried out.

"It's those creatures that attacked us from before. Run away."

"Are you a coward? Those are heartless. Heartless exist to steal what they lack, a heart. Because you and your friends have them, they'll never stop chasing you until you either collapse and die or find a way to kill them." She then turned to face the creatures before her, pointing the brush at them. As she sprayed thinner from the brush, the small ant monsters then leaped at her and knocked her down. Fighting them off, she got up and ran with Oswald and Gus following with her. "What was I thinking? I forgot! We need the key to destroy the heartless."

"What did I just tell you?! I said run away!"

"I heard you beforehand! Say that again and I'll turn you into rabbit stew when this is over!"

Gus then looked back at the scuttling creatures following them.

"It doesn't look like we'll be able to out run them. Princess, what do we do?"

Patty thought about some of the advice her brother gave her.

_Patty, I hope you have been studying your magic spells because if you get caught by a heartless, swinging our family scythe around won't protect you from them nor will it damage them either. However, even if you can't hit the heartless with regular attacks, your spells can make up what you may lack. Especially if you combine them with physical attacks.  
_  
"Ah! My spells! Oswald! Gus! Keep running ahead. I have an idea." She stopped to face the heartless again. Holding the brush in front of her, the heartless stopped and slowly moved closer to her. Ripples of paint and thinner then started turning orange with bits of yellow and red. "Suus 'vicis mori! (It's time to die!) Fireball!" A giant blast of fire then came out of the brush and hit the three creatures, blasting the shadows away. As three hearts temporarily lifted up and then vanished, Patty then turned to find Oswald and Gus. As she ran to the top of the castle, she found Oswald and Gus sitting down. They looked at her as there was now paint and thinner flowing on her arms.

"Princess, you're okay." Gus said as he looked at her. "Your arms... they're swirling with paint and thinner while changing colors. You sure are one strange girl."

She didn't answer back. She closed her eyes and thought of her brother, whose advice had saved her as well as her new friends. She then looked at the white sky.

"Brother... hang in there... I'll be out soon to save you..."

To be continued in chapter 2...


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Time cleave! Twilight Town  
**  
~Taisuke's side~

"I don't know where everyone else went, but I guess they won't need this anymore."

As he picked up the large key, green words appeared in front of him on the wall: _Hello Tai.  
_  
"What do you want now? To tell me something that no one else knows?"

_Of course. I've known about you since your birth.  
_  
"Whatever. Say what you want, but if Trace isn't here, it means he wasn't the destined one for the key, was he?"

_He never was. You were. Why do you think all those people except you and your cousin disappeared when the darkness came through? It's because you are the chosen one.  
_  
"Huh?"

He looked at the key blade.

_I've been waiting for you for a long time. You've grown since the last time we met._

"Sorry, but I don't remember coming into this castle before."

_Who said that you had to have visited the castle in order for me to remember you?  
_  
"To be frank, I really don't care about who you are. However, if you are this all knowing spirit haunting this castle, then tell me the name of my adopted father as well as my late adopted mother."

_Easy. It's Linus Drevis. As for his decease wife, she is Lissy Drevis. I know who they are already. I also know about the physical abuse that Linus inflicted on you while his wife was alive and after she was gone.  
_  
"What the? You know that much about me?"

_Yes. I also know that you stole Linus's lighter so that he couldn't burn your hands anymore. In fact, he was on his way here to find you when he discovered it went missing. You should thank me for getting you away from that terrible man. It would be a terrible shame if poor Patty found about your life, wouldn't it?  
_  
"She'll never about my life as long as I live. Enough talk! Tell me how to use the key blade!"

A door appeared near his area and opened up.

_Step into the darkness..._ Tai then picked up the key blade and walked on through. The words continued writing to him. _There you will see... that one's reason will be taken by the light... while the other... will be swallowed into the darkness..._

"Hmm... don't know what it's talking about, and to be honest, I really don't care. Bizarre place... I don't know where I'm going, but hopefully, it may lead to not only Patty, but also what I'm looking for." Soon, he reached another door. Gently pushing it open, he looked at the display. On it, a Popsicle stick with the word "winner" imprinted on it lie still, covered in dust. "Unknown substance? Looks like an ordinary Popsicle stick to me. Hmmm... according to this description, this was a piece of trash found in the ruins of a place once called Twilight Town. Said to once be a special dessert served regularly due to popular demands. It is unknown on what type of flavor was of grand demand before the great war 50 years ago." Light then slowly brighten the room, turning the Popsicle stick into a light blue ice cream bar. Taisuke then examined the small item as well as the changed description. "Whoa! The stick suddenly just sprouted an ice cream bar. Hmm... I wonder what it taste like." He then took the food off of the display and licked it. He spat to the side in displeasure. "Pflak! Yuck! What is this?" He looked at the description, as it had changed as well. "Sea Salt Ice Cream? Is that even real food." He licked the item again. "Hmm... It's salty, but sweet! Wow! I've never tasted anything like this before. I have heard of Sea Salt flavor mochi, but not even that can match to the flavor this thing has."

The wall then wrote to him again.

_DON'T EAT THE DISPLAY!  
_  
"Hey! I couldn't help it. I was curious on what type of primitive food the era before the great war was like. Can you blame me for my curiosity?"

_You're supposed to interact with the object using the key blade, not eat it.  
_  
"Well excuse you! You didn't say I needed to interact with it using the key blade." He then put the Popsicle back onto the display. "Okay wise one, or whatever your name is. How am I supposed to interact with this ice cream bar?"

_Aim the key at the figure and with your heart, release your emotions and the door will open.  
_  
Tai looked at the key blade and then at the Popsicle. Holding it out like a sword, he aimed at the display. Thinking about his real mother, tiny bits of light then started swirling around him. As he pulled the key away and placed it to rest on his shoulder while still holding onto the handle, the bits of light surrounded the Popsicle and created a orange door in front of him.

"A door? Where did that come from?"

_Tai... there isn't much time. The world that this object came from is about to vanish from existence.  
_  
"Vanish from existence? What are you saying? Isn't the food going to remain here even after I had tried to eat it?"

_That world that item came from needs to be time cleaved before the Queen or any of her minions can sense that the seal protecting it has been broken. Chosen child... you are their only hope.  
_  
"Time Cleaved? What the hell does that mean? What do I have to do to save it?"

The words then vanished from the wall. Turning to the door, he slowly pushed it open. Upon touching it, a burst of light engulfed him. Overwhelmed by the light, Tai fainted. While unconscious, he dreamed of his mother and how beautiful her green eyes shined and how long her black hair swung near her waist. He wasn't shocked for a bit about remembering her because he had the same eyes and hair as her. As the image started to fade, he woke up with orange beams of light hitting his eyes. As he turned away, he placed his hand on the floor he was lying on and then looked up. An orange sky looked over him with the sun near the horizon. Getting up, he felt the wind hit his face. Opening his eyes wide, he then saw where he was.

"What the?!" He looked at how far he was from the ground and then at the building he was on. "How did I get on top of a clock tower?!" He then pondered to himself something that he knew Patty and Raymond would never do. "What if I were to jump down from here? Looking at the distance of the ground from where I am, I wouldn't be surprise if I landed unscathed. I've done it many times before, which has landed me in hot water with people thinking that the heartless had finally eaten up my heart. However, where I live, it's always snowing, so maybe if I jump from here... Aw screw it! I'm jumping!" He then ran back and turned back around, going into a full sprint. Upon his feet reaching the edge, he jumped off. "TO NEW HEIGHTS!" he yelled as he fell, drunk with adrenaline.

While falling, a figure in a black robe with red spiked up hair was guiding a young teenage boy around, who looked confused as a blank look was all he had on his face. As they walked to the location where Tai was falling from, the boy stopped and looked up. The red headed figure then noticed he wasn't walking alongside of him.

"Roxas, what are doing now?"

The figure didn't respond to the red headed figure, but instead stepped back as the sound of Tai's yell of victory came closer to the ground until a giant CRASH startled the red haired figure. Both the confused boy and the red headed figure back away from the new impact caused to the ground, as the smoke cleared up. There, Tai was in the center with the key blade planted into the center. Picking it up, he yelled again.

"OH YEAH! THAT WAS AWESOME! I DIDN'T EVEN GET A SINGLE SCRATCH!" He then noticed the black robed figure and the boy with him. "Oops! Heh heh! Sorry about that folks. Nothing to see here. Funny, it's been awhile since witnesses caught me in the middle of any act ever since I found Linus's mini chain saw and destroyed my neighbor's fish barrels with it. Boy those were good old times!"

The red haired figure then noticed the robe Tai was still wearing as he got up and dust the dirt of the structure off of him.

"What the?! Who are you?!"

"Huh? Are you talking to me?"

"How stupid can you be?! Of course I'm talking to you!" He then noticed the features about Tai that stood out. "You're carrying a key blade? That's impossible. Could another have been found, chosen by the key blade? That robe... no one outside of the Organization wears that robe unless they've been found by our leader! State your name!"

"Yeesh! Alright already. Who made you the police patrol here? I am Taisuke Umbra, but you can call me Tai. How's it going?" He then looked at the blanked face boy behind the red haired man. He squinted at him and then slowly backed away. "Uh oh! Did I some how go back in time or something? There's no way I should have been able to see anyone from Patty's side of the family!"

"What are you talking about?"

"T-That boy behind you."

"What about him?"

"What's his name?"

"That's none of your business! Got it memorized?!" Flames then started swirling around the red haired man's arms until they took on the form of Chakrams on both his hands. Tai picked up the key blade and held it in his hands. "I don't know who you are, but there's no way I'm going to allow a fake like you to escape alive!"

Tai jumped back as the man threw the fiery Chakrams at him.

"Ugh! I can't fight an enemy who keeps his distance! For now I got to get out of here and find a place to hide." While dodging the attacks, he then called at the boy again. "Hey you! Tell me your name! Tell me!"

The boy watched as the red haired man gave chase to Tai. After Tai had gotten some distance away from the spinning flames, the boy said his name to him.

"Roxas."

"Roxas?" That's odd. Wasn't Patty and Raymond's great grandfather's name something else? He looks just like him in his youth, but that can't be him. He thought. "Ah!" A burst of flame shots flew at Tai's head, causing him to flee the area, jumping off of buildings while escaping the red haired man. After jumping off of the third building, he took the robe off. "As long as I'm wearing this, he won't stop chasing me. Thankfully, the spare clothes underneath will help me blend in with the crowd until I can finally loose him." Landing on the ground, he rolled across and ran into the public. A trolley was slowly passing through with a few people on it, so he jumped on board. Sitting quietly while still catching his breath, he kept his head down. He then peaked his head up and looked at the top of the buildings. The red head was nowhere to be seen. "He's gone? Phew! Thank goodness. I don't know what that was about, but now I got to get out of here." He looked at the orange sky once more. "Patty, if you're out there, don't go dying on me now, okay? If we're to get out of this alive, then we need to survive long enough to escape."

To be continued in chapter 3...


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Shiosai's album  
**  
~Taisuke's side~

"T-That boy behind you."

"What about him?"

"What's his name?"

"That's none of your business! Got it memorized?!" Flames then started swirling around the red haired man's arms until they took on the form of Chakrams on both his hands. Tai picked up the key blade and held it in his hands. "I don't know who you are, but there's no way I'm going to allow a fake like you to escape alive!"

Tai jumped back as the man threw the fiery chakrams at him.

"Ugh! I can't fight an enemy who keeps his distance! For now I got to get out of here and find a place to hide." While dodging the attacks, he then called at the boy again. "Hey you! Tell me your name! Tell me!"

The boy watched as the red haired man gave chase to Tai. After Tai had gotten some distance away from the spinning flames, the boy said his name to him.

"Roxas."

"Roxas?" That's odd. Wasn't Patty and Raymond's great grandfather's name something else? He looks just like him in his youth, but that can't be him. He thought. "Ah!" A burst of flame shots flew at Tai's head, causing him to flee the area, jumping off of buildings while escaping the red haired man. After jumping off of the third building, he took the robe off. "As long as I'm wearing this, he won't stop chasing me. Thankfully, the spare clothes underneath will help me blend in with the crowd until I can finally loose him." Landing on the ground, he rolled across and ran into the public. A trolley was slowly passing through with a few people on it, so he jumped on board. Sitting quietly while still catching his breath, he kept his head down. He then peaked his head up and looked at the top of the buildings. The red head was nowhere to be seen. "He's gone? Phew! Thank goodness. I don't know what that was about, but now I got to get out of here." He looked at the orange sky once more. "Patty, if you're out there, don't go dying on me now, okay? If we're to get out of this alive, then we need to survive long enough to escape."

Tai then closed his eyes to rest. He dreamt of memories of his adopted mother Lissy, the days walking through the snowy mountains where their home was, the dilapidated home they lived in away from the village near castle Mordan, and a dark silhouette of who he knew was Linus holding a lit lighter in one hand and holding what Tai could remember were Tai's 12 year old right hand on a metal table covered in bitter smelling liquid. He woke up and looked at his gloves that he wore so that no one saw the damage done by Linus. His fingers twitched from remembering the dark memories that he lived through each time he encountered Linus at a horrible time. Thinking about the flames created by the red head that chased him had brought forth the sense of deep anger. Because of the damage done to his hand, he couldn't cast spells that were taught to him in secret by Lissy around the time he turned 12.

As the trolley came to a stop, Tai walked off near a vendor, where he saw three kids about a few years younger than him buying the ice cream he remembered seeing from the room in Castle Mordan. Their happy faces made him hate his existence much more, seeing that the life before him was something he never knew growing up in a cold foreign land.

_Rotten kids... reminds me of the stupid faces of Trace, Shalane, and Hockey in that dumb village. He thought. Only, without the other idiots like Morgan the bully that usually picks on me with her squad of female classmates and Betty, Trace's girlfriend. The only person I could trust from that village is that young quiet girl... Angel. She works at the same shrine as Shalane, but I can't go see her without that black robe. To make things worse, it shames me that I can't go to her home nor can I bring to the cesspit I was raised in with that monster. Why is it that when I find someone so sweet and innocent that I lose them in the end? I don't understand...  
_  
Walking around, he examined the the buildings painted by the orange rays of the sun. They were beautiful to see, as the only time he had seen such beauty of the sunshine was when Raymond brought him over to Castle Cornell at the age of 13 to see the family in the early morning and to watch the sun rise from the roof garden of the family home. He would have loved to been taken in by the Cornell family, but due to the Elders ruling each merged worlds powers he knew it would be impossible for him to become a prince like Raymond. While walking, he saw a poster on one of the walls he passed by.

"Struggle Game?"

A man with black hair wearing a yellow jacket then noticed Tai while putting up another poster.

"It's a annual competition we hold here in Twilight Town. You interested in signing up?"

"A competition?"

"Competitors come to sign up to show everyone their true strength. The game works like this: Fighters must battle to take the most points from their opponents. Whoever has the most points when the timer runs out wins."

"Sound interesting. When will it be held?"

"In a few days. You want to sign up? You look like a great competitor for the crowd to see."

"Count me in! I'll be there to sign up when you open up your stands."

"Great. It's so glad to have you join us Mr... um?"

"Taisuke Umbra."

"Oh! Well then, welcome aboard, Mr. Umbra." As they shook hands, the man noticed Tai's hand. "Whoa! You got yourself a strong grip there. Do you practice kendo?"

"I have a friend at home who teaches me the basics in swords... and a job where I chop logs with an axe daily to keep my grip from going soft."

"Wow! You seem to be a rather busy person, Mr. Umbra. Well welcome aboard. We look forward to seeing you for the game."

The man then walked away. Tai smiled for a bit, but then turned into a frown again. He looked at his hand. He slowly clutched it into a fist. Walking away, he noticed a board where jobs were being advertised. Looking at it, he read fliers with offerings of cleaning up trash, putting up posters, hauling parts to a shop, performing skateboard tricks, bug extermination, and throwing a show by keeping a giant ball from hitting the ground for as long as possible.

_These are jobs? What idiot would ask for these kinds of jobs?_ He thought.

He then noticed a paper on the board that stuck out from the others. It had blue paint on it. He pulled it off of the board and read it. Written were the following:

1. Get a job  
2. Buy Sea Salt Ice Cream  
3. Meet Hayner, Pence, and Olette and fight Seifer and his gang  
4. Rescue Roxas from Araneolus near the mansion  
5. Return to the train station and ring one of the bells on top of the train station... or else you'll fade with this world

"What is this? A prank? I don't even know what this is!"

He then heard a voice.

Ave Heres scilicet tenebrarum. (Hail the Heir of Darkness.)

"Huh?! Whose there?"

Ave Heres ex tempore. Sine eos esse non possunt. (Hail the Heir of Time. For without them, we would cease to exist.)

"Heir of Darkness? Heir of Time? What's going on here?" A silver pocket watch dropped from the sky and landed near Tai's right foot. He picked up the watch and looked at it. The hands were going backwards. "What is this thing?" Suddenly, silvery hands came out of the watch and ran their arms into his ribs. Falling back, Tai let go of the watch, but more silver hands came out and grabbed his hand. "Argh! For crying out loud! Let go!" Suddenly, he saw a pair of eyes appear from the watch. "What the?!"

Corda eorum flebitis. Nos festinandum sit et munda eorum dolor. (Their hearts weep. We should hurry and cleanse their pain.)

The silver hands disappeared into the watch. His breathing returned to normal. The watch dropped into his left breast pocket. Tai reached into the pocket and looked at the watch. The hands continue going backwards. The minute hand moved from the hour hand, which was positioned directly on the Roman numeral 12 by one minute.

"Why is this stupid thing stuck to the inside of my shirt pocket? Argh! It won't come off!" He felt the paint on the paper he took with him move across his fingers. "Oh what nightmare did I land myself into this time?!"

He looked at the paper, which now read a new message.

_The servants of the Queen have come to eat this world. You must time cleave this era in the following order provided by this list. If you don't, the Eyes will appear and destroy everything, even you. Follow the order to survive. I shall guide you. The item connected to you is a special watch called the clock of Chronis. The watch displays how much time this world has left before the Eyes open up. Right now, 59 minutes are all this world has left before death comes. You must hurry and cleave this era to prevent the Eyes from destroying this world and changing time in the process.  
_  
"Time cleave… you've got to be kidding me. I didn't think that I would find myself being timed for how long I can be in the past. So in order to get back to Castle Mordan, I need to save this world first? Hmph! Fine. I'll fight to save this land, but when I get back, I'm going to warn Patty that this time travel idea was a pretty horrible idea to start with." The paper then reverted back to the list. "Okay. So the first thing I have to do is get a job… wow this sucks already. What job am I suppose to choose anyway?" He looked at the board that the paper came from. "You can't be serious. I have to ask for a job from one of these fliers?" He looked at the posters he saw earlier scattered across the walls. He then looked at the board. "I… guess I could ask for a job putting up posters. Awww crap. Well, let's get to work."

He headed to the main location where the posters were being sold and handed out. Entering the store, he saw the man he ran into before.

"Oh, hi there. Nice to see you again. How can I help you?"

"Uh hi. Yeah. I'd like to ask for a job please."

"You say you suddenly want me to give you a job?"

"I… noticed that you and your co workers are of need of an extra hand. Read your fliers while looking through town."

"Oh. Oh wait! That's good. I don't know why you're looking to find work so soon, Mr. Umbra. You look new to Twilight Town. Are you a traveler?"

"A displaced Nomad would be a better title for me, thank you. Just looking for someplace to find peace. Nothing more or less."

"I see. Well, if you should know, one of our workers is on vacation right now so he won't be returning until next week. Normally, I would ask for a resume, but because the Struggle Battle will be in two days from now, I'd think we better put up as many posters as possible. Want to start right now?"

"Yes of course."

"Alright then, here's the first load. Go stick them up on the East side of the vendor area. When you're done, come see me and I'll be sure to give you today's pay. How's that sound?"

"Great!" Tai immediately picked up the large load with the glue and roller and headed out. Stopping at the first building, he checked the watch again. "Ten minutes already past? Oh man! I got to wing it in order to complete the rest of the objectives. Good thing Lissy encouraged me constantly to use the strange gift I seem to have inherited upon birth." He grinned with excitement. "My lightning speed! Yahooooo!"

Back and forth, off the walls and sprinting across the city ground, Tai stuck the posters on each various places he dashed to. After putting the last one on, he jumped down off the last wall breathing hard and wiping the sweat off his forehead. From behind him, he heard clapping and cheering. Turning around, he saw a crowd of people gather around him. The little kids in the crowd cheered.

"That was amazing! Were you doing that as a show for today?"

"Awesome!"

"Mister, how did you do that?"

Tai looked at them dumbfounded. Back where he came from, doing such stunts earned him the wrath of the villagers throwing rocks at him and calling him a jumping Heartless. However, here he felt accepted. The man he talked to for the job then walked through the crowd to reach Tai. He looked surprised to see Tai after hearing the people see him run across the town in quick speed and jump off walls.

"Wow! Out of all my years living here, I've never seen anyone do that before."

Tai looked down, as if he might end up rejected again and facing attacks from the city.

"If you felt threaten, then allow me to excuse myself."

"Oh no! No one felt threaten Mr Umbra. It's just that we've never had anyone of that sort of talent do that here before. Which got me curious to ask, where did you learn that from?"

Tai didn't have the answer. In truth, it was something he had started performing by accident at the age of 13, when Raymond came to visit him.

"I don't have the right answer right now, but I'm just going to assume it came from my father. How's that sound?"

"Wow. Such a strange young man you are, and yet so agile. Oh! That's right! The posters. Let's see them." As they walked through the crowd to have the posters closely examined, the man smiled. For he saw some of the posters sticking in spots that no one could reach unless they had a ladder. "Great job Mr. Umbra. Because of the speed you inputted for this, I'm going to increase your pay. Here you go."

"Huh? What is this?"

"What do you mean? Isn't it obvious? It's munny, 150 munny to be exact. The currency we use here."

"Oh! That's great. Thank you. I was getting a bit hungry so I thought of trying out some food here. You wouldn't mind telling me the delicacies I should try out here, would you?"

"Of course not. After the help you gave us, why wouldn't I want to help you? Anyhow, if you're looking for a quick treat to relax with after a day's work, head over to the ice cream shop. They're selling Sea Salt Ice Cream, a popular flavor here in Twilight Town."

"Right! Thank you!"

Tai then took off to the ice cream shop. After buying ice cream, he headed over to the Sandlot to sit down on one of the benches present and enjoy his treat. While eating, he checked the list. The two objectives he completed were now off the list. What remained were the following:

3. Meet Hayner, Pence, and Olette and fight Seifer and his gang  
4. Rescue Roxas from Araneolus near the mansion  
5. Return to the train station and ring one of the bells on top of the train station

"Okay. So now I'm supposed to meet these three individuals and fight this weird guy as well. Why meet them though? Am I supposed to do something here that matters to them? Or is this preordain?" He then checked the watch again to see how much time passed since he looked at it. His empty Popsicle stick now balanced between his teeth. "Five minutes have passed. I better get moving."

As he got up, a streak of what looked like black smoke passed his face. Frightened, he fell back over the bench. Looking around, there wasn't anything there. As he collected his senses, he heard a voice of kids coming his way.

"Come on! Hurry! We're going to lose it!"

"Hayner, wait up!"

"Oh come on guys! Slow down!"

Tai brushed his clothes off and looked up.

_Hey… it's those kids that I saw earlier coming off that trolley,_ He thought.

They saw Tai and ran to him while still trying to catch their breaths. The first one with wavy hair sticking up talked to him.

"Hey you! Yeah you! Did you see that?"

"See what? The flying black spider that just sped right through here?"

"You did see it! Tell us! Did you see which way it went?"

"Before I answer that question, tell me. Are you three kids Hayner, Pence, and Olette?"

"And if we are?"

"Just asking. That thing you saw through here went that way." He pointed at the opening next to him.

"Hey! Thanks! Come on! We need to catch it before-!"

Tai gasped and clinched his fist.

"Whose there?!" Tai suddenly flinched and turned around towards the open space of the Sandlot. Four individuals were standing opposite of where Tai and the three kids stood. Hayner responded followed with Pence and Olette.

"Oh great. Look whose here?"

"Man, don't they ever give up?"

"You know Seifer and his band of troublemakers. They're persistent.

The three new people each responded. The fourth remained silent.

"Freak."

"That was crazy, y'know?!"

Tai looked at them confused since he had never heard anyone talk the way they spoke to him.

"What are you talking about? Are you referring to what happened in town earlier?" He scratched his head and then moved his arm to the side. "Who are you?!"

"I should be saying that. Hmph! Not that's going to matter anytime soon, once I find out who YOU are, loser!" He pointed at Tai. "I heard from a rousing crowd that you pulled a one man show jumping from building walls like a hoping spider. I didn't know acrobats were town this early in the year."

"…" _That arrogant look, Tai thought. He reminds me a bit of that pretty boy Trace. How I would love to wipe that smug off his face._ "Hey look! I don't know who you are, but seeing you has already put me in a ticked off mood as it is. If you something against me, then how about settling this with a dual?"

"Hah! You want a dual? Don't make me laugh! Not that I should be wasting my time with some freak of nature." Tai's eyes dilated in fury. "Maybe if you get on your knees and beg...maybe I'll let it slide."

"To be frank… I don't bow to pretty boys and their band of cowards."

Seifer gritted his teeth and glanced at Tai.

"Pretty boy you say? Okay! Let's do this!" A club is thrown to Tai's feet. He picks it up and holds it as if he's holding a katana. "Kneel, loser!"

Hayner, Pence cheered on Tai as the other two cheered Seifer.

"Come on new guy!"

"Go Seifer!"

As he runs at him to clash clubs, Tai's flashback begins as he remembers coming over for the first time to practice Kendo with Angel. He recalls his training back at his home at her family's dojo. Her parents are away, so she brings Tai in to train with her. She smiles at him as he slowly enters wearing his black robe.

_"Oh you made it! Come on in." Upon entering, Tai took off his robe and walked to the training hall. "I'm glad you came to see me Tai. We normally don't get many visitors here except during the weekdays. Here, grab your equipment and let's go. I want to teach the basics before the sun sets."  
_  
Tai walked over to a group of protective wear lying on the floor. Putting on his gear and picking up his shinai, he walked over to Angel who was wearing her armor and holding her shinai.

_"Okay Tai, today we're going to be practicing the proper stances when learning kendoka so pay attention to everything that I do okay? Who knows? Someday, you may enter a dual regardless if you announced it or not."  
_  
Upon the flashback ending, Tai's club hit against Seifer's, which resulted in pushing each other back. Jumping back and regaining his posture, Seifer called out to him.

"Come on. Quit playing around and fight!"

"That's my line!" He pointed the club down with one hand over the club's hilt. As Seifer charged forth, Tai dived down. Using the hilt, he hit Seifer's ribs and then switched the club around and knocked his opponents club out of his hand. Seifer stumbled backwards. Tai wasn't panting like Seifer. "You're not as strong as I thought."

Tai jumped back as the two individuals that came with Seifer stepped in.

"Seifer's not feelin' so hot, y'know?"

"Tournament decides."

Tai snorted from their reactions.

"Pathetic. Bullies will always be cowards. Even if you brought a large number against me, I'd still kick them around like rag dolls." He threw the club towards Seifer, who was still catching his breath. "Juunen hayai da yo! (Ten years too soon!)"

"What?!"

Tai didn't respond back. He walked away and picked up the Popsicle stick he dropped on the ground. After getting away from the Sandlot, he deposed of the Popsicle in the nearby trashcan. While still moving, Hayner then asked him.

"Hold on! Who are you? We never got your name."

Tai turned around to see him.

"It's Tai. Taisuke Umbra."

"I'm Hayner, but I guess you already knew our names since you asked us. Little odd. Anyhow Tai, what was that you pulled earlier?"

"Oh that? It was nothing special really."

"Are you kidding me? The stance, the way you held your club, and the speed. That was amazing. You should teach us whatever that was you did."

"Really? You thought the battle was good. Oh. That's great news. At least her training didn't go to waste."

"Her?"

"Someone very dear, to me, taught me how to wield a sword when I was 10. I guess you could call her a true friend. Not that I see anything wrong with that."

"Oh, so you got lessons from your girlfriend? Wow. That's different. And I'm also assuming you learned more than just those fighting skills right?"

Tai turned to Hayner with a glance blush on his face.

"What? I never said that!"

Olette then responded to him.

"Yet you blushed when you started talking about her. Wow! That's amazing. To be taught that well by someone you love. Way to go."

"Wait! I never she was my girlfriend! I swear. Come on give me a break."

Pence then took notice of his right hand.

"Anyway, off the topic. What's the story with your right hand?"

Tai looked at him surprised and then glanced at his hand. His look of embarrassment then turned into guilt.

"That's just an old injury. Nothing more." He then noticed two individuals in the distance. One of them was holding the robe that Tai had ditched. "Ngh! Oh no! He's still here? Ah! I got to go! Thanks everyone!"

Running off, Tai ran into the tunnels to evade his pursuers. As he walked through cautiously, he patted his pockets. His eyes widen with fear.

"Oh no! My mother's memento! Did I drop it while I was running?" He looked back at the opening he entered through. "I have to go back and find it. It's the only evidence that my mom and dad existed… it also has… evidence of my birth place."

Meanwhile…

"He couldn't have gotten far." The red headed young man turned the black robe inside out to check for items that may have been left behind during the chase. His hand soon felt a stitching that didn't belong. "Well, what do we have here?" He looked at the words written from the stitching. "Shinon… Umbra? Whose that? That is definitely no one associated with the Organization." The blank faced boy with him walked over a few feet where the robe was found and picked up a tiny booklet. "What is it, Roxas?" He walked over to the Red head and gave him the booklet. Viewing it, it may appear as if it had gone through flames some time back as pieces of the edges were burnt off. He opened the booklet. "A photo album. Hmmm? Property of Shiosai Umbra." There were pictures of a beautiful ebony haired woman with green eyes posing alongside of a gruff looking man with brown hair and a boy who shared the same traits as the woman. "Wonder if that boy dropped this while running from us, don't you think Roxas?" The blank faced boy was nowhere to be seen. "Roxas? Oh no! Where did he go?! Crap! I better go find him. They'll have my head if he disappears. It's been only two days since he was found and brought to the Organization. He shouldn't be able to run yet."

"Hey!" The red head turned around. Taisuke had returned. "I don't know who you people are, but that album goes back with me now."

"What? This burnt up trash? You've got to be kidding me. It's practically falling apart."

"Like I care! That item is the only living proof of where my true existence came from. The album is my mother's while the robe is my father's. I'm not going to waste my breath on you, so hand it over."

"Ha! So you cherish junk? Whatever. Not like it'll matter to me once I'm gone."

A black portal appeared behind him.

"What the?! Hey! Give me back my mother's album!"

"Not a chance. Now if you excuse me, I have to go zombie hunting. Get it memorized."

"Tsk! Raaah!" Tai summoned the keyblade and charged at the man, but he had gone through the portal and disappeared. "Ugh! No! Mother!"

Spectat delectamenti. (Looks delicious.)

"Huh? Oh no! Not again!" He looked at the list in his pocket. Now the following were written on it:

4. Rescue Roxas from Araneolus near the mansion  
5. Return to the train station and ring one of the bells on top of the train station

"What the?! Oh for crying out loud." He then looked at the pocket watch. "What?! Only ten minutes left?! You got to be kidding me! Rescue Roxas… near the mansion? There's a mansion here in this funny looking town? Tsk! I better ask around." He then turned around and saw blue footprints on the ground. "Or… I can let these footprints lead me to the place. I better hurry!"

Tai followed the path of blue footprints on the ground. He reached an opening in a wall and entered into a forest like landscape. Running about, he saw an opening through the thick tree branches. A large mansion appeared from the distance. As he ran towards the mansion, he saw the boy from earlier standing in front of the mansion. He was looking up at a large web with a smoke like creature resting in the center of the web. It was drooling clear liquid from its mouth. The boy spoke slowly once more in his blank state.

"Ar… ane… ol… us?"

The smoke looking spider came closer to the boy and opened its mouth. Tai quickly dashed over to the boy and pulled him away.

"LOOK OUT!" Nearly pulling him back, the smoke creature closed its mouth. It crawled back onto its web and roared at Tai. "Hey! You're that kid from before. Roxas I think. What are you doing here by yourself?"

The boy didn't answer back, but stared at Tai confused and then tilted his head back as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Suddenly a dark portal appeared. The Red head came running out terrified.

"Roxas!" He picked up the boy, who fainted upon Tai pulling him away from the giant creature. "Phew! Looks like he fainted." The monster roared again. "What the?! A heartless! Spider appearance at that."

The creature scuttled around the huge web it was on. It turned to face Tai.

Ave heredibus fati. Deus noster in aeternum et in cordibus eorum. (Hail the heirs of destiny. For through their hearts will they guide us to eternity.)

"What the? It's talking?! I don't remember seeing this happen before. And I've heard of this language before. I thought Heartless can't talk."

Tai drew the keyblade to his side.

"So you're the one who's been talking from afar?"

Ah ... talis puppi oculos. Ut habet adveho verus. Prophetia, incepit. Tibi traditae sunt qui regnum aperiam. Filius legendary Vicis MESSOR. In prodidit Rex Vicis et tracto de Keyblades. Umbra! (Ah... such stern eyes. So it has come true. The prophecy has begun. You are the one who will open the legendary kingdom. The son of the legendary Time Reaper. The betrayed King of Time and the handler of the Keyblades. Umbra!)

"Time Reaper? Betrayed King of Time?"

The red head turned to Tai.

"Wait a minute! You understand what this nasty creature is saying?!"

"He's speaking the language that my cousins speak on certain occasions. How odd. Heartless don't talk at all. So why is this one talking to me? And of all languages LATIN?!"

Minus mihi gratum est opus vestrum metatus heres tempus. Ignosces mei prior transgressione et defectum hospitalitatem. (It is most kind of you to alleviate my need to search you out, Heir of Time. Please forgive me of my prior trespass and lack of hospitality.)

"Forgive you? Lack of hospitality? A few seconds ago, you were going to eat that kid and he doesn't know what you are to start with. If anything, you should be apologizing for trying to be greedy."

The monster laughed at him.

Unde ista hedum ut dolor. Purgare me tibi hoc esse propositum erasing qui dolorem comminatio et aliis electum probare. Qui facit finem operis vultis? (That kid you speak of is the source of your grief. My purpose for being here is to cleanse you of your grief by erasing those who prove as a threat to you and the other chosen one. Why would you stop someone who is doing his job?)

Tai took the keyblade, jumped up and whacked the creature across its head. He landed on his feet back on the ground and pointed his keyblade at him.

"If your job involves insects like you wiping out my family, then I cannot allow anyone of that matter to live. Go back where you came from!"

The red head looked at Tai in surprise. His thoughts rushed with confusion.

_Family? Does this kid know something about Roxas' past? Whoever he is, I better help him because this sure turned into a freaky day by far, _he thought._ And if we're going to get out of here alive, I better make sure he lives.  
_  
The creature roared again, but this time, the scenery around the three people near the spider started to turn grey and desolate. The trees withered away, the ground turned to grey dust, the mansion turned into complete ruins, and the sky turned brown.

Ecce potestate mea! Tempus subcinctus! (Behold my power! Time shift!)

Suddenly a large weave of webs covered the grounds and created an enclosed cage match. The spider heartless was hanging above them. It roared at them. Thankfully, Roxas wasn't trapped in the enclosed webs, but Tai and the red head were on the other side. The red head drew out his chakrams while Tai positioned the keyblade as if he were holding a katana. The monstrous spider called forth five smaller spiders that scuttled towards both Tai and the red head. Tai and the red head had their backs towards each other. The red head spoke to Tai.

"Axel."

"Huh?"

"My name is Axel. If anything happens to me, take Roxas and get him out of here. I know nothing about you Taisuke but if I fall, which I have no interest in doing in the future, tell Roxas of what happened to me. Got it memorized?"

"I'm a warrior, not a funeral director. But if you say so, then I'll do it. For Raymond and Patty's sake though. Also, you have yet to give me back my mother's album!"

"Wait. What?"

Tai took off and slashed out the first group of spiders scuttling to him. Axel performed a fire dash over the group coming at him. As they fought off the small spiders, they jumped back and forth on the web walls to the giant spider. The creature fired shots of its web at Tai, nearly causing him to fall off the web he grabbed onto. Axel threw his Chakrams at the creature, hitting the monster and causing it to fall on its back at the bottom. The spider quickly flipped over and scuttled across the area. It jumped around the ground area shooting its web shots at Tai and Axel. Tai slide under the creature and stabbed up at its belly. The heartless wailed in pain and then jumped back at the top of the enclosed area. It roared again, but now instead of being enclosed, the battle was fought on falling large chunks of the earth in the air. Jumping onto a large wall once a part of the mansion's ruins, Tai and Axel faced the spider heartless as the large piece slowly fell to the ground. While hacking at the heartless, the spider heartless opened its mouth to swallow Axel whole while his back was turned. Tai intervened and whacked the heartless across the head again. He then grabbed one of his eight legs and pulled him from the falling piece they were fighting on. Taking the spider, he threw the spider on the ground. Tai then uncovered his right hand and turned to Axel.

"Throw me a ball and do it quick."

"Heh. If you say so! Ha!"

Axel called a fireball and shot the blast at Tai. Taking his right hand, he caught the ball and with it fused it with the keyblade. The keyblade now appeared to be on fire.

"No turning back now! Cha!"

He took the keyblade and with it down stabbed into the giant spider's belly. As the keyblade caused the spider to combust, the creature stopped crying about as the scenery started to change back to normal. While jumping off in midair, Tai quickly pick pocketed the album from Axel and then landed back on the ground, hiding the album in his zipper pants pockets. He put his glove back onto his right hand.

"You know, you're not nearly so intimidating when you're dying."

Illa sicut praedixit ... Potentiam tuam ... Incredibile ... (It was as foretold... Your power... Incredible...)

"Again with the weird junk. Could you save me some time and just tell me what's going to happen later down the road?"

Ego, Araneolus, exspect sed humilis servus quorum ordinem est, sequi id quod heres sentit in corde, et quod causat dolorem. Nescio quid agis, sed in tenebris et nunc revertar ut vis. Ave heres temporis. Christus enim est novi. (I, Araneolus, am but a humble servant whose order is to follow what the heir feels in his heart and what causes his grief. I know not what you are doing, but for now I will return to the shadows as you wish. Hail the heir of time. For he is the new messiah.)

The creature then faded away. As Tai turned around to look at Axel, who had picked up the unconscious Roxas, he heard a ringing noise. It sounded like an alarm. He then looked at his list again:

5. Return to the train station and ring one of the bells on top of the train station

He then looked at the pocket watch in his shirt.

"Ah! Oh crap! I only have five minutes left! I got to get to the train station and fast!"

He took off running at great speed. Axel was left alone. Without waiting for Tai to come back and called another dark portal and went inside. Tai jumped from building roof top to roof top trying to reach the train station, as painted out by the blue footprints guiding him all the way. As soon as he got to the top, he viewed the watch again. 30 seconds left. Tai climbed to the top of the train station and upon reaching the top, he threw the keyblade at one of the bells. With this, a door appeared in front of him and opened up. He jumped through and fell into the sea of light on the other side. Upon waking up, he looked around and saw that he was back inside of Castle Mordan. The place where the Popsicle stick sat was now in a glass covered case. Tai looked at the room, which was now dark again. The stick had returned back to its original form, but the name when affected by the time curse was still the same: Sea Salt Ice Cream. Suddenly, a door appeared parallel where the display rested. Tai walked inside and closed the door behind him.

Meanwhile, in an unknown world…

"What happened?"

"A heartless came and attacked us. I'm okay, but I'm a bit skeptical on the kid who helped us fight it off."

"Kid?"

"Yeah. It was a boy with a keyblade. He had black hair and green eyes." He then showed the person he was talking to the robe Tai wore. It was still inside out. "He was wearing this. It looks like the attire of the Organization, but it has a name stitched into it. He also was carrying—huh? That brat! He must of pick pocket me. Hm?"

He then felt something in his pocket. He pulled it out. It was a photo that looked recently took. It was a photo of Tai posing with two golden hair individuals. One was a young man wearing blue knight's armor while the other was a young girl wearing a red dress with a silver tiara and a necklace with a blue orb on it. On the back of the photo was written the following:

Me with my cousins Patty and Raymond Cornell on my 13th birthday.

"Well what do you know? So these are the people he was talking about."

The man then looked at the photo with his gold eyes.

"It seems that the intruder that we're dealing with may be a Time Reaper."

"Time Reaper? I thought those were of legend."

"We have four of them who use to serve the King of Time. Perhaps they may know something about this keyblade master and the individuals whom he is affiliated with." The man then turned to walk away. "I'll report this to Master Xemnas and call an immediate meeting in the round room. Until number XIII wakes up, do not bring him along. We must make sure no internal harm has been made."

While he walked away, Axel was left with the photo of the three kids. As he put the photo in his pocket, a flashback then recalled an earlier mission before Roxas's arrival. A gruff looking man welding a silver keyblade with a golden haired young man welding an emerald sword. The young man spoke the same language as did the creature he had no so long ago encountered.

"Wait a minute. That golden haired kid. I think I may have seen him somewhere before. Oh that's right. He's the one who I was sent to stop before Roxas was born. He was carrying with him a tiny spider heartless with that old man. Damn! Why didn't I realize it before? The troublemaker I met with Roxas… is related to the one who unleashed that Heartless in Twilight Town."

To be continued in chapter 4...


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The looming nightmare**

-The Unknown World, Roxas's room-

A young man walks out of the room with a small spider looking device in his hand. Axel is around the corner, over hearing what is discussed between an old man with long platinum blond hair and the young individual with steel-blue hair sporting messy bangs that cover the right side of his face.

"It appears that we may be up against another group that we know nothing about. So far, it is clear to me that they were trying to poison and kill number XIII."

"That boy that Axel ran into may have been in on it. How careless. Just like the mission to eliminate the two imposters that brought in that spider Heartless, he let that creature escape, hide right under our radars, and grow too big for us to anticipate. Now here we are with the key's chosen on the brink of fading. And it hasn't even been three days since he joined us."

They left the hallway. Axel then turned and walked to Roxas's room. There the young boy was lying peacefully in his bed.

_I should have killed them both before that golden top called that storm..._ The memories of the mission rushed through his head.

He had been sent the mission before Roxas was born to not only stop the heartless that appeared in Twilight Town, but also to stop two suspicious figures sporting the same attire like the organization. Upon reaching the mansion, there they were. Two beings were standing in front of the gate of old mansion in Twilight Town. A gruff looking man welding a silver keyblade with a golden haired young man welding an emerald sword. The young man had in one of his hands a tiny spider heartless in a cage. The young man spoke something that Axel recalled he could not understand. Preparing to attack the young man put his sword away and moved his hands in the formation of a triangle. When he stopped moving his hand, he yelled something in the unknown language and soon a fierce lightning storm was summoned and came down on Axel, forcing the red head to run far from the clouds until they faded. After the storm had left, Axel returned to the location where he spotted the imposters. The two beings were gone and the cage was lying on the ground empty.

He jolted from the memory and then looked at Roxas, who moved his head back and forth. There on the side of his neck was a strange mark that glowed bright violet. It resembled a violet rose. Axel turned to not look at the mark, as he knew it was a result of his failure to stop the two beings from creating this later disaster. Roxas then moved his left hand, as if to grasp something. Axel looked under the moving hand and put it to the side. A photo was released under the hand. Axel picked it up and looked at it. Photographed were a couple standing next to each other smiling. It was the same boy he and Roxas had ran into, but in this photo he was standing next to a dark skinned girl with blue eyes and blue hair wearing a blue sailor fuku. He turned the photo over and read the writing on the back.

Me and Angel at her family Dojo while her parents are away. Taken on the day before Linus was drafted to fight the Heartless.

_What the? I wonder how Roxas got his hand on this._ He thought at bit and then remembered how they found the photo album. _This must have fallen out of that photo album we found before that boy stole it back. How long has he been holding on to this?_ The door opened. "Saix."

"The meeting is about to begin. Let's go."

-The Round Room, Where Nothing Gathers-

The 12 individuals walked into the room and took up their seats. The leader, still hooded then spoke.

"Gentlemen, there seems to be a presence of another power... who wish to cut off one of our own. Little is known about this enemy, but for now on, take extra precaution in every mission you are sent to. As they may be lying in wait. Bring up the surveillance the dusk witnessed upon the encounter of the Heartless not long ago."

The group looked at the recording from one of the dusk that was tracking both Roxas and Axel. In the video, it showed the tour that Axel was guiding Roxas on, but also in the video was what appeared to be a stalker. He wore the same robe as the organization, but on his attire was a buckle to hold his sheathed sword.

In each scene, including the encounter with the boy, the stalker was up in a corner area where the dusk were secretly hiding themselves, scaling the roof top to get close, but then grabbing the ledge and hanging down on that ledge while Axel was chasing the black haired boy. The second scene showed the stalker dropping to the ground to pick up the photo album, but then jumping back onto the roof top as Roxas walks into the area and finds the album. After bringing the album to Axel, the stalker throws a spider onto the ground, which quickly grabs Roxas's attention and leads him to the mansion. There in the scene near the mansion, the boy from earlier runs to save Roxas, but after pulling him away, the recording reveals the hooded stalker jumping down from a tree he was hiding in, throwing something quickly, and then taking off into a dark portal. The fourth recording shows the boy rushing to the train station, ringing the bell and then disappearing out of sight.  
As the recording zooms away from the train station, on the very top, the hooded stalker is spotted. He removes his hood as a dark portal appears. He bows to the man who comes through and then leaves through the portal with him. The recording ends with the scene pausing at the back of the robes. Axel looks at the paused scene surprised.

_It's those two troublemakers again,_ he thought.

Saix then spoke up.

"This recording reveals that the group we may be up against is a pair of assassins known as Time Reapers. Time Reapers are individuals who try to disguise themselves using attire from the eras they travel into and carry out missions given to them by the King of Time. Not much is known about where they came from or why they are obstructing our missions. However, what we do know is that they are out to kill number XIII. If they know about our plans, then it is obvious that they are secretly trying to wipe us out." He turned to Axel. "This matter falls on you."

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

"We know now that the boy you encountered is related to the one that released that Heartless into Twilight Town. Seeing how well skilled the gold haired young man is, it is nearly impossible to get close to him. As he does not speak our language and he seems to know the most powerful spells that only powerful sorcerers would know. If we wish to bring down these Time Reapers, it is most likely to aim for the weakest links. The photo of the boy with the young man reveals that they may be very close, especially with the young girl in the photograph. I would suggest looking for the boy again and bring him to our side, if Roxas doesn't make it. However, if that doesn't work, then find the girl. We know nothing about how much of a threat she may impose to the Organization, so it is best to capture her for leverage. This tactic will force them to come to us. Do not fail us again."

As they were dismissed, Axel headed to his room and looked at the photograph of the three kids. The girl in the center of the photo was the only one smiling out of all three of them, as the two boys were both frowning; the gold one in a stern look while the other trying to look acceptable. Her gentle appearance made her look kindhearted, but also naive. Something made Axel feel uneasy about capturing her.

_We__ know about Taisuke and Raymond, but nothing about Patty... I wonder... could she be greater threat than the brat and that gold top? I better keep an eye open... and I better be careful..._

~Patty's side~

"Princess, you're okay." Gus said as he looked at her. "Your arms... they're swirling with paint and thinner while changing colors. You sure are one strange girl."

She didn't answer back. She closed her eyes and thought of her brother, whose advice had saved her as well as her new friends. She then looked at the white sky.

"Brother... hang in there... I'll be out soon to save you..."

She grabbed her head and fell over. Oswald and Gus rushed over to her side.

"Princess!"

While she was passed out, she dreamt of the day she and her brother met their cousin for the first time and had their picture taken after watching the sun rise at the Castle Roof top. Then, there was a strange flash as the scene changed. She saw a red spike haired man, viewing a photo of the day of meeting Tai. He was sitting on his bed.

"Patty Cornell..."

Patty looked both surprised and scared.

"Wait a minute! Is this a dream? Who's he? And how does he know my name?" She started shaking in horror. "Brother..."  
She heard a voice talking to her.

Pat~ty? Where are you Pat~ty?

"What?"

The scene of the young man viewing the photo suddenly had quick flashes. In those flashes, Patty saw a woman with her silver hair covering her head as it hung down, slowly moving towards her. She was wearing a black dress with black gloves. Soon, when she was very close to Patty's vision, the last flash went off as the woman lifted her head. She called to Patty in a sinister laugh as she tilted her head to the left with an insane smile on her pale face. She opened her eyes and zoomed right into Patty's face. Her eyes were dark red.

"EEEEH... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Patty woke up shaking uncontrollably. Gus and Oswald were sitting right next to her.

"Princess, are you okay?"

Patty started to calm down. She looked at the rabbit and the gremlin and then smiled at them.

"Oh, did I make you worry? Sorry about that. I had a nightmare, but...  
I'm going to be alright." She slowly got up while still holding the paintbrush. As she breathed slowly, she noticed something not right about herself. There was a tiny opening on her chest that she could put one finger through. Her mind started to spin. "What the? What's this hole doing in my chest? What... what's going on?"

"Princess, are you okay?"

She looked at Oswald.

"What's happening to me?"

They looked at each other and walked closer to Patty, as she dropped to her knees. Little faint puffs of black smoke were coming out of her.

"Princess, what's going on here?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm scared. Why is this happening to me?" She then stood up and looked at the sky. "Could it have not been a dream at all? Who was that woman? Who was that man? I can't stand and wait for the answers. Oswald! Gus! Let's get going."

"Are you sure? You look like you need some help."

"I'm fine. Come on, let's go!"

As they left the castle area, they headed into another black and white area. There, Patty saw the round city area blank with clay figures on each part of the street. As she walked over to free them, more heartless popped up and started attacking. Using her spells, Patty is able to destroy the Heartless in the area and set the citizens free. Across the giant world, they traveled through adversaries, overcame obstacles, and defeated heartless alongside of the young princess. Then, they came across this area that appeared to be a laboratory. Patty put her hand to Oswald and Gus.

"Hold tight. There's something odd about this area. It's got a large contrast than the other areas."

As she walked into the building, she saw the walls decorated with tools that looked as if they were used for surgical reasons. While walking, she heard laughter. While walking close to where the laughter was coming from, she saw a strange man in a lab coat marveling at something. Looking into the room, she saw something that looked familiar.

"Hey, that looks like the mural Tai and I saw before this happened."

She heard the mad man talking.

"How beautiful. How marvelous! To had seen this woman for the first time descend to such a place. And now she visits us again. Gracing her image once more." He turned around walked over to a wall and pulled a lever. Patty heard the sound of something moving. Unknown to where it was coming from, she heard the sound getting closer. Looking up, she saw a giant hand reach down and pick her up. She screamed in surprise as the metal hand slowly took her across the surrounding of the building, and then dropping her into a seat. As she landed, the clamps came over her hands. While struggling to get free, the man walked over to her. "I was expecting you, my dear."

"Who are you?"

"Why a mere witness who caught glance of your beauty for the first time in his whole life. Isn't it wonderful? I made this in honor of you. It was on the day you came walking through our old home that night after riding through the River on that boat. The mask may have hid your face, but that was okay. For it could not hide your silver hair and pale complexion. All the more to love."

T_his crazy man... he must have mistaken me for the queen,_ she thought. _I got to get out of here._

While wiggling in her seat, she then yelled to him.

"There must be some mistake. I don't know who you are, but let me go! I can't stay here forever."

"Oh, but you can! With me! For you see, this is a land that you have always wanted to take for yourself, but were unable to due to your primary duties back in your home world. Here, you found this place of greater beauty, and I sought to make that dream come true. I know how powerful you are, your Highness. Join me. Join me and we'll take this land together."

"I'm not this woman you've mistaken me for! So cut it out!"

"Could it be? Could it be that you have forgotten about me and the citizens... just like HIM?!"

"Who?"

"Our creator! He abandoned me and all rest who came here so long ago. When I found out about this, I sought to change things. So I drew this mural in hopes that you would descend and find me. And you did! Your hair! Your face! You have to be her! No other being looks the way you do!"

"But I'm not her, so please-!" Suddenly, a swarm of heartless appeared. "Ah! Heartless!" She moved in her chair. "Get me out of this chair now!"

"What's the matter, my dear? Don't you recognize your pets? They miss you so they've come to be with you once more."

"Pets?" Wait, the heartless were the pets of the Queen of darkness? That's impossible. I thought the heartless were people first before becoming heartless. Could it be that these are the originals? Darkness that carries no light?

"Don't be shy, my dear. They miss you so much that they've gone through the trouble to make every citizen bow before you in fear. They want you to have this world."

One scuttled quickly over and jumped on her shoulder. The others followed, crawling on the front of her body.

"Heeek! Get off me!"

"Don't be mean to them. Embrace their hug! Like you always did!"

"No! Get off me! Someone help!"

Suddenly, she felt the clamps on her hands come off. Freeing herself, she grabbed the paintbrush and cast a spell.

"Et nunc ... futilitate! (And now... futility!) Ice splash!"

A blue orb of ice came through and spread out like a giant flower made of ice. She leaned forward in pain after freeing herself of the heartless. Oswald and Gus came in.

"Princess, are you alright?"

"Oswald! Gus!"

Oswald then ran over to help her out of the chair.

"We figured that something didn't feel right when you went in, so we stepped in to help you."

"Thank you, both of you." Getting out of her chair, she aimed her paintbrush at the mad doctor. "You are beyond forgiveness mad man!"

"Huh? Why? You're the Queen are you not?"

"I'm not the Queen you seek. The one you speak of has been dead for a long time now."

"Dead?! That can't be right! It hasn't been long since she came to the River. That's impossible!"

"Hasn't been that long?" Oh that's right. I must be in the past, which means she's still alive somehow; she thought.

"There's no way she would be dead! If you're not her, then it means that her return hasn't come yet! No matter. For that, I'll just have one of the pets I managed to capture just come out and devour you all. Then I can start anew once you're gone."

He ran through the building, let Oswald, Patty, and Gus give chase. As they ran, Gus spoke to her.

"I have a bad feeling about this. You think we should be going after him?"

"If we don't stop him, then more people are going to get hurt. Besides, I don't know what heartless he's hiding, but we need to get rid of it now before it gets loose."

They reached him in the basement of the building. A giant door was in the center of the room while the device he stood next to was up on top of the door. He stood next to a device holding on to the lever.

"Witness the greatest discovery ever made!" He laughed manically as he pulled the lever.

A moaning sound came from within the door. Oswald and Gus flinched from the sound made. Patty readies the paintbrush to her side. Suddenly, the door opened up. A hoof came out and then followed with another. Soon, a large bull emerged. It snorted and shook its head. Its yellow eyes looked at Patty. Preparing to fight, Patty put her brush in front of her while Oswald and Gus stayed at her side. The heartless then spoke.

Ave regina fati. Omnes enim vivunt novum producam unum. (Hail the Queen of destiny. For she will bring forth a new world for all to live as one.)

Patty gasped in shock from what the giant bull said.

"What the? It's talking? Heartless aren't supposed to do that."

Ego sum Taurus. Sex ego custodiam heredis qui dolorem curationis fine. (I am Taurus. I am one of the six guardians that come to heal the pain of the heirs of destiny.)

"Heirs of Destiny? What's going on here? What is this?"

Oswald and Gus looked at Patty.

"You can understand what he's saying?"

"It's the same language my Grandmother taught me as a child. However, that's unusual. Heartless aren't supposed to talk at all. People who lose their hearts to the darkness lose their mind and will and become heartless. They become completely controlled by the darkness. That's how it's supposed to work. So why… why does this one have the ability to talk?"

Nostra ratio est qua nos prohibuerit fieri perierat. Quod si reginae amisimus velit esse corpora retinerent tenebris, quantum in causis omnibus, ut nos perderet. Regina ut fides nostra. (Our reason is what keeps us from becoming lost. It is the Queen's will that even if we lose our bodies to the shadows that we try to hold on to our reasons as much as possible to keep ourselves from losing everything. Even our faith to the Queen herself.)

"The Queen… she has that power? Just how powerful was she when she was alive?"

He then snorted.

Quanta potes recordari in vita priore te? Renati in quantum perdidisti? (You can't remember how powerful you were in your previous life? How much did you lose upon being reborn?)

Patty didn't answer him; For she didn't understand what he was asking.

Valde bene. Meministine me auxilium tuum. Fatum perducant te in ira tua. (Very well. I shall help you remember your power. Let your anger guide you to your destiny.)

The bull put his head down and aimed his horns at the wall. As he charged, the three jumped out of the way. Upon hitting the wall, the scenery changed. The building they were in was now a dead area where the ruins have almost merged into this green liquid. The bull then created a round enclosed stadium for Patty and her friends.

Ecce! Mundi oblitus vicis! (Behold! The world forgotten by time!)

He snorted again and then started to charge at the group. Patty ran alongside of Oswald and Gus dodging the bull's attacks.

"This is bad! What are we going to do?!"

Gus then looked at the brush, as it was now glowing green.

"The paintbrush! It might be our only way of surviving this monster."  
Patty then looked at the surrounding near them. There were outlines of where walls use to be and large columns being held up by a fragile structure.

"I have an idea, but I need you two's help for this one. We need to distract him into attacking one of the structures already here. Follow after me!"

The bull aimed its horns down and readied to charge again. Patty ran over to the column and climbed it using the cracks within the structure to support her feet and hands. While climbing it, she looked and saw Oswald and Gus distracting the bull into turning around to Patty's location. Reaching the very top of the tall column, the two ran over to Patty as the bull started to charge again. Getting out of the way of the bull colliding with the column, the two jumped out of the way as Patty leaped onto the bull's back. Using the paint in the brush, she painted back a building that had sunk into the green liquid sometime in this setting. After rebuilding it, she used the thinner and sprayed the bull's horns, causing them to disappear. Leaping off, she ran to the building she had rebuilt.

"Hey! Over here!"

The bull then charged right at her. As he got close, Patty ran out of the way as the bull hit the building and recoiled back from the hit since his horns were no longer on his head. Falling down, Patty ran to the bull as he lay unable to move. She pointed her paintbrush at him.

"Et mundus, habet unum minus os ad vescendum. (And the universe has one less mouth to feed.) Thunder blast!" Raining bolts of lightning came down, showering over the giant bull's body. As it cried in pain, the scenery then changed back to the basement. The bull's body then started to fade. Ï don't know why you're doing this, but I won't allow you to continue hurting one else anymore. Return to where you belong."

Aww ... hunc affectum ... Regina hoc donum. Nunc potest ire sublevémur. (Aww... this feeling... this is the gift of the Queen. Now I can go relieved.)

"The gift of the Queen?"

Cum omnia fecerit quæ adhuc non es memor? Quam foedum de me. Non esse neglegentem. Quod non faceret profecto dicturus ad pristinam sui. Nunc autem videamus ... habetis nihilominus meminisse ratio tua. (After everything I did, you still can't remember who you are? How shameful of me. I shouldn't have been careless. My reason for going on was to make sure you returned to your former self. However, now I see it... you have yet to remember your reason.)

"Formal self? What are you saying? Was there something I was suppose to know before meeting you? Am I someone who is the housing heart of someone in a previous time?"

Etiam. Sicut est key lamina dominus electi. Aliquam sit heres. Tu potes meminisse, donec ego ad umbras. Ave regina scilicet tenebrarum. (Yes. As is the key blade master chosen. He is the heir of Time. Until you are able to remember who you were, I shall return to the shadows. Hail the Queen of Darkness.)

The monster then faded. The mad doctor then looked at them in shock.

"What?! You were able to destroy him? That's not possible!"

She then turned to the man with her paintbrush.

"May no one remember your existence!" She used the thinner and released it upon the doctor.

"GWAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

The doctor slowly turned into a green puddle before Patty's eyes. Oswald and Gus looked at her in shock.

"Princess, what did you do?"

"Don't worry. He won't come troubling anyone again; As long as no one tries to bring him back, of course." On top of where the machine was a frighten clay statue sat still wearing a small hat on its head and a small dress. Patty walked over and set the statue free. As the figure moved, Oswald ran over to her. For the statue that Patty set free was Ortensia. As Oswald danced with his love, Patty walked away. She then went up to where the mural was. She looked at it in sad eyes. "Who would have thought that such a beautiful mural of this woman would cause the heartless to attack this world?" She aimed her brush at it, but was hesitant. "If I destroy this mural, it could cleave the era that Tai and I live in, or even worse, erase us from existence." She walked outside and looked at the sky. "I wonder if Yen Sid can hear me down here?" She called to him. "Master Yen Sid! Can you hear me?"

A portal then appeared before her, projecting the old man.

"Is that you, young princess?"

"Oh I'm glad you could hear my voice. Listen, I need to get out of here. I found the problem that was giving this world trouble. Can you help me out?"

"What discovery was made, child?"

"I found the source of why the citizens of the world you made were being attacked by the monsters that arrived. Please, lend me your power to help me take this out of here."

"What is it that you want me to remove?" She ran back into the building and showed the projection the mural. "Is that…?"

"Yes, it is. Help me remove it so that the heartless will leave this world alone."

"…very well."

He put his hand forward and created a giant flashing yellow light around the mural and around Patty. Oswald and Gus came in and saw what was going on.

"Princess, what's happening?"

"I'm sorry that I couldn't stay long to see this land in color, but I must do what I must to keep all of you safe. Goodbye everyone! Oswald, good luck on helping everyone here!"

"Princess wait!" He ran to her and handed her a tiny key chain. "It once belonged to the creator. If you ever see him, please give it to him! Promise me!"

She looked at him surprised and then smiled.

"I will. Thank you."

A bright flash of light then brought Patty to the floor of Yen Sid's workshop. As she got up, she looked out the window and saw the mural outside.

"That mural should be hidden away so that no one may ever see it again."

"Yes it should, but for know can you find someone who can guard it?"

"I shall be sure to remember." He then walked over to Patty, as he had noticed the puffs of smoke coming out of her. "My dear, did you get hurt while in the world?"

"I don't know. I passed out once and when I woke up, I had this on my chest. Also, I noticed that using the paintbrush changed my outfit. Look at me, my brother's robe is gone and the thinner is swirling around my body."

"Perhaps, this could be the affect of the paintbrush. When using the paint and the thinner, your clothes will change." She gave him the brush to look at. "I see… the paintbrush from your time is acting as a weapon imitator. Right now, you are just getting use to the powers of the brush, but viewing this, over time your power will gain you greater skills. Who would have thought that a paintbrush could change someone's look? Maybe it's an affect from your time." He gave the brush back to Patty. "For now, continue practicing with the brush. It may be your only way of surviving your journey."

Patty suddenly jolted. She turned to the door way opposite of where the model sat on the table.

"Whose there?"

"What's wrong, my dear?"

"I thought I felt someone's presence." She then pulled out the key chain and gave it to the wizard. "I think you should hang on to this. I'm going to check out what that was." She walked past the doorway and looked in front of her. "A mirror?"

"So you could sense magical presence? Interesting. I'm assuming that you can sense the powers of my mirror. Such a mischievous tool of mine."

"Wait. Your mirror is enchanted?"

"Majority of my tools in my home are enchanted my dear. The paintbrush as well. Did you think of me to be a normal wizard?"

"Well no. Actually, I thought that you just carry around a wand wherever you go, but that's just silly. Not all wizards do that, right?"

He looked at the keychain she gave him.

"Yes… silly. Come now. Because you saved the citizens, I want you to see what happens when I apply color to the world."

"Ooooh! That sounds exciting. I'd love to see what it looks like on the inside."

They walked over to the model. Yen Sid picked up his paintbrush on his table next to the bottles of paint and thinner. Dipping the brush into the paint and pulling it out, he swiftly moved the brush slowly over the model, creating a colorful atmosphere to see.

"Wow! It's wonderful. Hmmm… I should get going, but I want to see how Oswald and the others are doing. Is it okay if I go back in?"

"If you plan to stay overnight in the world, then be my guest. I will be retiring to my bed chambers soon."

Her eyes delighted and shook in agreement. With this, the hole on her body started to patch itself up. Using his magic, Yen Sid sent the excited Patty into the colorful landscape. After taking his paintbrush and dipping it into the Thinner, he placed the brush down and left for his bedroom. While away, a strange figure came out of nowhere. Having witness the model's change in appearance, Patty's return into the model, and the brush lying down unattended, the figure walked over to the table and started using the paintbrush. Dipping it into paint, he then used the brush to paint up a figure that looked like himself. Unsatisfied, he continued shaping the blob-like creature until a frightful image was formed. Terrified, the intruder threw thinner at the blob until a mess fell on the model, creating this disaster of mixer created by both Paint and thinner. Hearing the footsteps coming down the stairs, the intruder fled into the mirror and disappeared. Yen Sid looked at the chaos done and feared for Patty's life.

"Oh no… what happened?" He looked at the swirl in the middle of the model. "What a calamity. The young princess is still inside the world. I shouldn't have let her go back in. The presence she sensed… could she have sensed an intruder in my workshop?" He looked at the keychain she gave him. "This item she had must have been found during her walk through the realm. I don't know what will happen next for her, but for now, I must send it to her." The keychain then started to glow. "The current state of the brush won't be able to save her from this upcoming threat. For her sake, she must gain not only the power of the brush, but also the power of the heart. It might not completely take a physical form, but the glyph appearance should help her until it completely develops. One will take the form of the weapon she knows from heart. The other... bestowed by the King of Light himself... a Keyblade."

To be continued in Chapter 5…


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Thinner Disaster**

~Patty's side~

-Inside the Color world, Ostown -

"Oswald!"

"Huh?" The rabbit turned around. "Princess! You came back!"

"Of course! I wanted to see all of you again after everything you helped me with."

"Well you're just in time! Come on! I want to show you the clock tower. It's finished."

As they traveled across the following features of the colorful world, to the smiling clock tower, Patty looked at all things in amazement.

"Wow! Look at this place! It's beautiful…" _It reminds a bit of home… Home…_

"Patty?"

"Huh? Oh sorry I dazed off again, didn't I?"

"What's the matter? You sounded happy earlier and then sounded sad. What's wrong?"

"Oh… sorry. I… I think I might have become home sick."

"Why don't you go home?"

"My brother… he…" She hung her head low.

"Oh… I get it. I didn't know you had a brother. So let me guess, he left you behind and you were forgotten by him, right?"

"What? Oh I don't know that to be certain. You see, when I was three years old, our mother left me behind with our grandma and took my brother with her. I never knew much about her or our mom and dad my whole life. Then one day, after I turned 10, my Grandma's soldiers came home with my brother, who I didn't know was still alive. However, something was wrong. Grandma wasn't with him. That's when he told… that she had died trying to save him. In my time of grief, I stayed in her rose garden that was watched over by a family of crows, hoping for something or someone to comfort me. That's when I wanted to know more about my parents… and that's when he went off the next day and burned our mom and dad's portraits. I asked why he did such a thing. He said that I'm better off without them because they're both dead."

Oswald crossed his arms frustrated.

"I don't understand why siblings have to be that way. What did we ever do to deserve this? Look at me. I should be traveling the world beyond this place right now… but I'm not. Instead, he is. Why did He favor him over me?"

"Who?"

"Mickey. Mickey Mouse. Ever heard of him? Everyone knows who he is here and outside of this world."

"I don't think I have… However, I think I might have read the name somewhere in my Grandma's large tome of history back at the family castle. What of him?"

"He was the one who stole the spotlight from me and everyone here in this world. We were slowly forgotten by time because of him. I don't know when he'll come here, but someday, when he does, I'm going to-!"

"Don't do it!"

"Huh?"

"Even I don't have the heart to do that."

"What are you talking about?"

Patty put her head down.

"Please don't let that horrible thought cross your mind Oswald. It'll poison you."

"What do you mean?"

She lifted her head with tears in her eyes.

"You're going to kill your own brother, aren't you?"

"What? That's ridiculous! Why would I do that?"

"Because… you haven't seen him in so long that there's a chance he's probably not in your heart anymore. Had my brother done such a thing to me after years of separation, I would cry my eyes out and beg him to remember. I wouldn't allow him to forget me for anything. Instead, I'd try to remind him of more of the good times rather than the bad times and hope that he'll come to his senses. I don't know what happened between you two, but I hope you both reconcile before one of you ends up falling into the darkness."

Upon reaching the town where Ortensia and the other citizens were, Patty was greeted alongside Oswald with joy, as his Bunny children ran to her and pulled on her the robe she was still wearing. As she smiled and conversed with the people, she suddenly felt a sharp feeling hit her left breast. As she clinched her fist close to her body, she fell over. Oswald and the others rushed to her side. As she looked up, she saw the woman from her dreams looking at her with her maniacal grin.

_It's that woman again! What is she doing here? Could it not have been a dream after all?_

As the town's people slowly helped her up, she saw the woman coming close to her as flashes of light had her quickly getting closer and closer. She then looked at Patty face to face.

"What do you want from me?"

The woman grinned more until her eyes flashed again.

"Let me in." Patty's eyes widen just as the woman's eyes widen with her evil smile. "Let  
me give you a true reason."

"True reason? What reason?"

She giggled.

"Your reason for existing. Surrender to me… and I will help you obtain it. Resist… and you shall be destroyed with the rest of them."

She then disappeared. Patty covered her eyes trying to hold herself together. While Oswald and Ortensia were helping her, a scream was heard in the distance. There a large wave of green liquid came rushing through the town. As the wave came close to Patty, a large blob like creature formed, carrying with its appearance a vile grin. Patty, as well as Oswald and Ortensia staggered through the dry areas of the world to escape the blob creature. As they ran away, the green liquid then dried up from where it washed from and soon heartless started to appear. The blob creature was nowhere to be found. After escaping the monster and heading to the castle, they saw that the beauty of the building was nearly washed away by the green liquid.

"What's going on? What's happening?"

Ortensia looked at the liquid left behind in the castle.

"This is… paint thinner."

Oswald then looked at Patty, who still had the paint brush in her hand.

"Hey! What is this? Are you working for the Queen of Darkness?"

"Oswald?"

"Look at this place." He then checked the mapped area that was still standing inside the ruined castle. The map had changed. "Everything in our world… it's either in ruins or completely gone."

Patty then remembered what Castle Mordan told her about the display. It was about to be destroyed and that she had to save it. Oswald and Ortensia looked as the paint thinner picked up speed.

"If this thinner doesn't recede, then everything and everyone inside will be erased." He turned to Patty. "What are we going to do? Why would this suddenly happen to us?"

Patty then looks at him and then the brush.

"This brush is capable of many things combined with my magic, but I wonder… will it be enough to save this world? I can't hold back now." She turned to Oswald. "I need to get to the highest peak of your world. Please take me there. I know how to save it. Trust me."

Oswald and Ortensia looked at each other nervous. As Patty placed her hand out, Oswald then put his hand to her's and pulled her along with Ortensia. While jumping through dry areas and avoiding running thinner rivers, they soon made their way to the pinnacle of the world. Patty walked over to the jutted peak where they stood and held her brush out. As she was preparing to use it, a large group of heartless appeared from the sky and attacked her. Patty tried to cast her magic spells, but soon found herself tapped out.

_What the? I can't cast my spells! Oh no! What am I going to do?_

Patty screamed as the swarm attacked her, Oswald, and Ortensia. While fending them off, she felt them pounce her and slowly had the darkness covering her body.

_I… can't go like this! Brother… I have yet to save him. Don't let me go like this. I… need strength! Patty reached her hand to the sky as the heartless started to drag her down. She couldn't speak or open her eyes. Please… if there is any light left in this world… lend me your strength! Give me your reason to live! PLEASE... STAY WITH ME… UNTIL I GET HIGH ENOUGH!_

Suddenly a burst of light blasted the heartless off of her and her friends. As Patty picked herself up, she saw that she had paint swirling around her and that her paint brush… was now donning a liquid glyph form of a Keyblade.

"What the…? A Keyblade!"

"Princess look out!"

As a new swarm can after her, Patty turned around and swung the liquid formed Keyblade. Each one disappeared, leaving behind glowing hearts. After dissipating the new swarm a large heartless then appeared before the three figures. It blocked the view of the world below. Patty looked up at the creature as it looked down on her with its yellow eyes. The heartless towered over the group with its massive, muscular, humanoid appearance. Patty recognized what type of heartless it was.

"Darkside…" She looked at the liquid formed Keyblade and held it like a sword from her days training with her brother.

As the massive creature stood up, Patty ran towards the monster. It then lifted its hand, ready to punch the ground with a violet wave swirling around it. Upon punching the ground, Patty attacked the heartless that came towards her. She then attacked the massive hand repeatedly until it pulled away. Then the monster attacked with his other hand, but this time causing a massive wave to shake the ground. Patty jumped back as the wave shook the foundation under her.

"It doesn't look like I'm doing any damage to it… Unless…" She looked at the creatures head. "If I take the head, it should end it all."

The creature then struck the ground again, summoning more heartless. From there, Patty ran up the arm and struck the creature in the head three times. The monster stopped and then dissolved into the shadows. As she looked down, she saw a thick gathered group of the heartless playing with the paint thinner running through the Wasteland. Oswald and Ortensia saw the Heartless jumping up and down repeatedly.

"What are they doing?"

Patty then responded with the paint brush out in front of her. She realized that they were going to wipe everything out.

"They're going to generate a Tsunami and erase everything you love. Let me stop this before they start another disaster." She placed the paint brush out in front of her and held it in a prayer stance. A small golden crown appeared on her head with light swirls around her. _I promised Sylvia I would never use this spell, but what other choice do I have? Grandma, forgive me!_ "Rex lumine Domini miro ordine temporis aequat, malum pellere virtus ades. (King of Light, wondrous Lord who balances the order of time, lend me your strength to banish this evil.)" She then jumped in the air and swirled in the sky, light particles fell from above. The crown dissolved away as she used the spell. "Luminating Storm!"

From this the heartless reacted and started going crazy. They all leapt into the sky to blind out the spell, drowning out the light over the world and covering the whole area. Patty felt the darkness all around her as she soon found herself floating rather than standing. She turned and within the darkness saw Oswald and Ortensia floating. Their hearts were outside of their bodies, as were the rest she saw from afar. The woman she saw from before then appeared to her again.

"Take their hearts. They're ready to be harvested."

"What?"

"The Darkness is going to erase this world and its citizens. You alone cannot save it."

"It can't end this way! Oswald! Everyone!"

"Give up on them. They are doomed, Patty." She then put her hand out to Patty. "However, if you wish to save them, I can lend you my power to prevent this world from fading… let me in. That is all I ask."

"You… who are you… and why are you attacking this world? The mural is gone so the heartless shouldn't have any reason to come here."

"So naïve… I didn't attack this world in interest to drown it out. The mural is beautiful. That mad man painted the most accurate mural of me, so to speak." Patty's eyes widen in horror. "This world is destined to fall centuries from now." She then came close and lifted her hand towards Patty's left breast. "My reason for being here was to lure you into this event. I knew you would come to me eventually. Now that we can see face to face, you will hear my will and obey it. If you wish to save this world, then take their hearts as they float around you."

"But that will turn them into heartless!"

"It would… if the person had already embraced the powers before coming here. However, the light you have may save them. It will take their hearts, but it won't feed them to the shadows nor consume this world. It is a spell that I am the author of." She came close to Patty where she had her hands on her shoulders. Taking her hand and placing it on Patty's hand that held the paint brush, she embedded a cold substance into Patty's arm. She then said the name of the spell as she let the scared girl go. "Reginae manu (Queen's hand). With this spell, you can take people's hearts out of their bodies and leave a seal on their shells so that they cannot fade as long as the heart is safe. The memories and emotions will remain intact as long as the holder remains safe, of course."

"How do I know that you're telling me the truth?"

"Why would I lie to you? No other born in this old era or a hundred years before your era know this spell. It is a special spell only Time Reapers would know. If you don't want them to fade, then cast the spell. Don't worry, my dear. They'll still be able to move and have the same emotions. They just won't know that they are no longer whole anymore."

Patty looked as Oswald and the others were starting to dissolve out of existence. With the paintbrush in front of her, she then twirled around with it above her head. She called the spell as it was told to her.

"Reginae manu (Queen's hand)!"

The darkness started to swirl around her. The hearts then left the bodies and came to her. All hearts entered into the hole in her chest and the darkness entered her brush. Soon, the light returned, revealing the land to barely be living. The citizens were left safe and Oswald and Ortensia laid behind her unconscious, but were still moving. The woman then disappeared. Patty ran at her.

"Until we meet again dear; which won't be later than you think."

Patty collapsed again. A swirl of sparkling light then surrounded her and brought her back to Yen Sid's workshop. As she woke up, Yen Sid was working on a concoction. She lifted herself off from the bed she had laid in.

"I see you're awake. That's good. I am relieved to see that you survived that fate. The model is unfortunately in need of grand repair, something that I will need the help of the surviving citizens to bring back to its former beauty. Despite the ruin created by the unknown visitor, I am deeply sorry for allowing you to enter in without checking twice what my mirror had done. I don't know much about that hole is in your body and if it is a result of my carelessness of your safety, but for now drink this."  
Patty drunk the liquid and soon wiped her mouth away.

"What was that? It tasted awful."

"Rose water."

"Rose water? You mean water that taste like rose petals? Why would you give me that? I might as well drink the water from the vase that the plant sits in."

"Look for yourself." Patty looked at her chest and soon the hole healed up. "The rose I used in the mixture was said to have come from the grave of a valor warrior known as Chronis. He was the original King of Time. He descended down here to fight a war of some sort sometime ago here and lost his life sealing the Queen of Darkness away. Long after his death, one of the Queen's relatives took up the throne as well as the throne of the Kingdoms Light. From what I've discovered about his past, he was said to be related to the Queen's brother and a faithful friend to the King of Light, who also lost his life here and buried in a unknown part of the worlds beyond here. The world that controls both light and darkness is said to have been obstructed by the Queen's powers, as it seems to be slowly turning towards the shadows. It won't be long until I will have to intervene with the others who the King of Light left his powers with."

"Who is the name of the one who took up the throne of time?"

"I haven't met him yet. However, what I do know is that his last name, just as the rest of the Queen's family members, is said to be related to the darkness. A Symbol, another language, or even bigot figure of evil; I know nothing of what he is capable of."  
He then gave her back her brush and then guided her down to see the model, which now looked ruined.

"Oh no… Oswald and the others…"

"I should have put a protection spell on my mirror; as I had risked your safety, my dear. I don't know if this is the work of the Queen's men, but what I do know is that she is seeking someone out as a target, which is the reason why I need you to go before she finds out that your still here." He brought her outside of his tower to see the mural. "The only way for you to return to your era is to interact with something you had encountered not long before coming here. I believe that is what the servants of the King of Time would do to return to their eras. Do as you must, but be careful. The Queen seeks those she finds interest in when they allow grief into their hearts."

Patty then aimed the brush and activated the paint, which swirled around her. With a liquid formed Keyblade in her hands, she struck the mural and soon a grey door appeared. Patty looked back at Yen Sid.

"So this is Goodbye?"

"I'm afraid so, child."

She then recalled the keychain Oswald gave her.

"Wait… the keychain. What happened to it?"

"I gave it back to you. That keychain is for your paint brush. With it, you'll be able to call forth mystical forms of powerful weapons to help you fight off the heartless. That way, you don't have to rely on your magic constantly to save you all the time. Magic is like a flower. Once it is dried up, it will need time to heal. Just like your case."

"Oh! I didn't know that. Hold on! Oswald told me to give the keychain to the creator. So why-?"

He waved his index finger at her and put it close to his lips. Patty then realized who he was. With this, she smiled and then went through the door. As she entered through the light, she found herself back in Castle Mordan. The model was now being guarded by a glass cover. Patty looked at the room, which was now dark again. The model had returned back to its original form, but the name when affected by the time curse was still the same: Disneyland. Suddenly, a door appeared parallel where the display rested. Patty walked inside and closed the door behind her. As she walked through the hallway, she found a large moving puddle of paint in the center of the room. The wall wrote to her again.

_Come down below Patty… I'll show you someplace secret…_

The puddle was now glowing with light. She then walked into it and fell through. As she woke up, she found herself descending down stairs and passing portraits on the walls. Then she reached an enormous round room. Fourteen murals of women hung on the walls. Each held a red rose. Their names were displayed under each mural. All but the last one on the left. Patty recognized the women.

"Hey… these are the Princesses of Heart! Here on the left side of the room, I know them. Some of them are from Kilala Princess. These are the ones of the past according to my Grandma's Tome. Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, Alice, Jasmine, and… hey, one of them looks smashed. All it shows is the Princess's waist intact while the face is gone. The name is gone as well. I wonder if this is due to the essence of time. Huh? Bizarre… the right part of the mural still intact looks like she was holding a beautiful Keyblade whle the other holds a red rose. What's going on here?" Patty then looked at the right side of the room. "These must be the new ones that she also spoke of in her tome. Ariel, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, Anna, and…" She recognized the mural next to Anna's mural. It was the mural of a figure she knew from the manga she recently read before leaving her home. "Hold it… that can't be… Kilala Reno? What is she doing here?" She noticed something off about the mural. "Kilala was a real princess of heart? I don't get it. All the other murals have color and intact with the exception of the mural last on the left. Why is her's the only one in black and white? And also about to fall apart? At least the one on the left still has pieces of it up so that someone would know what kind of Princess she could have been."

Suddenly painted words appeared on her mural.

_Requiem in Pace, Cecidit Principem (Rest in Peace, Fallen Princess)_

"Ah! Fallen Princess?! What's going on here? I thought Kilala Princess was nothing more than an adventure manga. If this is for real, then does this mean that Kilala Reno… is dead? What happened? No… when… When did this happen?"

_30 years ago… 20 years after the Great War… Paradiso was invaded and annihilated._

"Paradiso was a real kingdom? Grandma never told me about this. By who?! Tell me!"

_You don't know? I guess Sylvia didn't always record people's names and their worlds in her tome of history, did she?_

"What does that mean? Tell me who did this to her?! All Princesses of Heart were able to live Happily Ever After, so why this? Let me find the relic of Paradiso to undo this mistake for her sake!"

_You can't._

"Why not?! Damn you!"

_Because… it was Rei's bloodline that did this._

"Rei? Kilala's husband? That doesn't sound right. I thought his whole family were the keepers of peace."

_Not his distant relatives. Sylvia is one of them. She was a distant Aunt of his._

Patty gasped from the answer.

"That's impossible! It can't be true!"

_It is. The Kingdom that you were born in… the one you grew up to love and cherish… that was once Kingdom Paradiso… now… it is nothing more than a nest for a family of Crows… Kingdom Cornell._

"No way… my grandma did this? Wait! Kilala's family. Did Kilala leave behind any descendants?"

_Yes… She gave birth to a girl at the age of 20… that was a few month's before her impending fate as well as the kingdom…_

"Tell me their names so I can protect them. If they still live, then allow me to undo my Grandma's mistake."

_I can't… Six years ago, her only daughter died in a foreign land. It is unknown on if the land was still here in Pangaea._

"This can't be." Patty dropped to her knees. She looked at the mural as now the pieces were slowly falling off, starting with Kilala's face. "What kind of secret… is this? Is this for real… or not?"

_However… her grandchildren live._

Patty then got up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Who are they?"

_You should know. You and your brother are her and Rei's legacy…_

"W-What?! Then that means that…"

_Yes… your mother was her daughter… making you the descendant of her powers… and her position._

The mural then fell completely apart. Revealed behind it was a narrow hallway that leads to a cube room with a table in the center of the room. Left of the table was a crown, cleaved in half and rusted up with its jewels missing. The display of the crown said:

Kilala's crown.

On the table was a red rose sitting in a vase. On the Rose's display it wrote:

The Tears of Chronis.

"It looks like the same roses found in Grandma's garden. I wonder why they called it that. Could there be any connection to it and the Princesses of Heart? Strange… it looks like it's alive so it must be a real rose. Maybe the time curse made it real, perhaps? Regardless, I better take this with me."

A note then appeared on the table, written in blue paint. She picked it up and read it.

_A gift from Chronis to those who have pure hearts. When the rose wilts, so too will you wilt away. You and the rose are united. Go forth and seek the truth. From the truth, your true reason shall be found._

Patty looked at the red rose in her hand. It was a huge blossom bud with no thorns on the stem.

"What a pretty rose. I better take good care of it." She then placed the rose in her hair and walked out of the room. As she came out of the round room, the wall now wrote to her:

_TRAITOR!_

"Traitor? What's going on? I thought the Castle wanted to help me. Wait a minute… why didn't I notice this before? These words… they're written in thinner." She looked around the area she was in. "Could it be that someone else is trying to communicate to me? I wonder… what if there is more than one presence awoken by the Time curse?"

Moving through the area of the castle, she entered into another room. While walking, a swarm of heartless appeared. Patty then summoned the powers of her paintbrush and fought off the pests in her way. Proceeding, she found her way through a hallway containing more unknown relics. Occasionally, the relics would come to life and attack her, forcing the young princess to run. Then she found her way into a room filled with strange items within the area. Each item seemed to have a strange shape to it. They somewhat resembled two small circles sitting on top of a big round one. It reminded her of a mouse a bit with each symbol. Soon she walked up to a display with the dog collar on it.

"Ancient dog collar... Looks pretty ancient all right... The band is about to give out and the tag on the collar is too rusty to read. I wonder whose dog this was and why this relic was important to find?"

Suddenly, the room filled with light and the items were restored to a better appearance. The display now read something different.

"Pluto's collar? Was that the name of the dog? Why would you name your dog something from the one of the Gods of the Underworld? How curious…"

To be continued in Chapter 6…


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Time Cleave! Traverse Town**

~Taisuke's side~

Tai was running down a hallway hacking the living relics to pieces as they tried to attack him. He then reached another room and locked the door. He put his back to the door and slid to the floor trying to catch his breath.

"Are you kidding me? Why did those relics suddenly come to life and attack me? I thought this castle wanted to help me! What's going on here?!"

He looked around the room and studied the area. On the left part of the room was a large bell. On the right of the room was a table with a chair missing a leg and a empty candle holder. In the center was a warped metal bar with something missing from the top of it.

"Obsolete street object? What kind of name is that?"

Light then filled the room and restored the items. The display then read a different name.

"Traverse Town Street pole? Hold on. Traverse Town is still around, isn't it? Unless… this is probably a missing piece of it that disappeared 50 years ago. Well," He looked at the watch in his pocket. "If the display was restored, then it means I better get to work."

He put the Keyblade in front of him and aimed at the restored displayed. A swirl of light then formed around him. As he pulled the key away and placed it to rest on his shoulder while still holding onto the handle, the bits of light surrounded the Street pole and created a purple door in front of him. Turning to the door, he slowly pushed it open. Upon touching it, a burst of light engulfed him. As he woke up on the other side, he stood up and looked around the dark area he was in. Water flowed calmly through a gate with metal bars and a lit lantern sat unmoved in the center of the dark area. After he broke the gate down, he looked at the building, next to his location, and then to the sky. He was in a town with a night sky.

"That's odd. It's night now. I wonder how long I've been inside of that dusty castle. Better start looking around. "

While exploring the town, he overheard a crowd in a large area of the night town. While standing at the top of the stairs, he saw a man walking with three kids. All were covered in burns, cuts, bruises, or torn clothes. The youngest of the kids were tear-stained while the other two were silent. As he continued walking, four people wearing what appeared to be onion shaped helmets came to assist the man and the children. He watched in the distance as the one in red spoke.

"What happened?"

He turned to the purple one.

"Looks like another world got destroyed. So what do we do with them?"

The green one then talked while helping the blue one aid the kids.

"As loyal knights of the previous King of Time and the current, it is our duty to assist those in need no matter what era we go to. As long as the Time Reapers exist, good will always triumphs over evil."

The blue one then casted cure on all survivors and guided them to one of the hotel rooms for rest. As they walked out, the blue one spoke with the other three with her.

"I got the name of the survivors. The man with the children is the one who brought them hear using a gummi-ship created from their home. His name is Cid. The children with him are orphans he managed to save when the heartless attacked their home. They each told me their names: Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie. So what's the population count for Traverse Town now?"

The green one pulled out a chart and wrote the names down in a binder carrying names and dates of arrival.

"Hmmm… That's 50 people that have come here for refuge." He put the binder away. "You know? Ever since Lord Umbra rose to power after the fall of Chronis, I suspected that he would take this place away within due time. However, because this is the place that we came to after losing our home during the Queen's battle with the King of Light and Lord Chronis, I guess he showed this world mercy."

The red one crossed his arms.

"Lord Umbra has sure been acting strange lately. He seems sad whenever we meet up with him."

The blue one took of her helmet and rubbed her head.

"He's got to be in mourning. That's got to be the reason why he's been acting weird."

The purple one looked at her.

"Wha? Seriously Refia? If he's sad, then it's probably for the imprisonment of the Queen in that tiny necklace. However, that was 100 years ago before Kingdom Hearts was sealed away. By the way, whatever happened to that jewel after the battle? You think it feel into the wrong hands?"

She turned and scowled the purple one.

"Don't you ever use your head Luneth? Can't you see whenever we go see him that he's in pain?" She put her head down. "He might be grieving for another family member. However, I don't know if he has anymore members from his lineage. As for the necklace, do remember that it was stolen from one of our own Time Reapers and whisked into a locked era, so we don't know what became of the necklace. For now, it's safe to assume that there will be no more bloodshed by her hands. I hope. What do you two think? Ingus? Arc?"

The red and green one pondered her question.

"Perhaps my Lord might have witness the fall of someone within one of the eras he can access at will. As the King of Time, he could have willingly gone back and undo the person's death, but he chose not to. Could that be the reason?"

"Huh? Ingus, you may be on to something. Recently when Commander Raymond returned with him after visiting one of the eras in one of the divided worlds, he seemed disturbed. When I asked what was wrong, he said that he failed to get her album back. I didn't know who he was talking about, but something told me that the woman Raymond was talking about was someone that our King might have known in that era or someone that Commander Raymond knew, maybe. I wonder."

The bell off in the distance then rung.

"Looks like it's time for us to report back to Commander Raymond. Thankfully, we finally finished building those funny looking street poles that Commander Raymond wanted us to put in the streets." He then put his hand in his pocket and placed it on the wall. "I don't get why we're placing these blank pieces of paper down in every world we go to. What purpose is there in doing this?"

"Luneth, remember what Commander Raymond said? He told us that these papers are meant to guide those lost in Time in finding their way back home. Maybe there are some Time Reapers who got lost trying to find their way back to the base and that's why we need to place these papers there. You should pay attention more on what order our Commander tells us."

"I know, but yeesh, would it kill that person to reveal themselves to save us the trouble of wondering who he is?"

They all looked to the sky. Arc clinched his fist close to his chest.

"The Eyes are watching us. I wonder why though? Could this be the wrath of Chronis after his fall?"

Luneth then placed the paper on the wall and with this, they then walked away. Tai walked towards the wall were the paper was and looked at it.

_Well at least I know whose giving me these tasks. Time Reapers, eh?_ He looked at the night sky as some stars were going out. _The stars are disappearing. Strange. What could have been happening during this time period._

He then checked the watch in his pocket and then the paper.

1. Meet up with Merlin to learn Magic in the third district  
2. Light the candles at the cafe  
3. Meet Cid and boost the morale of the survivors with him  
4. Stop Centipes from taking out the power for the Town  
5. Return to the basement and put the Lantern out with ice magic

"Merlin? Whose that? Hmm… learn magic. This is got to be a death wish for me because I can't cast magic through my right hand. All I can do with it is try to absorb certain attacks or repel them with it." He then checked the watch in his pocket. One minute had already passed. "I guess I better get going and find the third district. Let's see now…" He walked to the main square and saw a sign on one of the doors. Each door had a sign on it. However, the one in the center read "Third District." As Tai walked through the door, he looked around the grand area of lights and then turned to one of his sides. There a lonely door was inscribed with something on the frame that Tai could not read.

"Crap… more Latin. Something… house. I don't know some of the words."

He then pushed open the door and walked inside. In the dark was a small crooked house surrounded by water and the only path to it was the blocks that were across from its location. Tai quickly jumped on each block to the other side until he reached the house. Upon walking in, he found the place was empty.

"Hello? Anyone home?" He looked at the dusty area and placed his hand over his head. "Great... I must have gone to the wrong house or I just picked up a prank paper."

As he turned to walk out, he felt a sharp feeling hit his head.

_What the hell?_

He saw something crawling around in the form of the shadows. It looked like a centipede. A voice then came over the here he was in.

Sorte elegit heredem, luctus non pugnant patientur. Sit nobis remedium vos de angustia. Opem feramus, tibi ... invenio requiem. (Chosen heir of destiny, do not fight the grief that you suffer from. Let us relief you from the anguish. Let us help you... find rest.)

"HURK!"

Tai had passed out from the intense pain. As he lied there, he dreamt of memories of living in the small ice village. At the age of ten, he was traveling with Lissy to pick up food for dinner when he saw a young girl with pink hair walking pass them accompanied with a group of other girls. They were wearing uniforms different from the girls that he saw attend Shalane's family shrine. He watched as they went away. Lissy looked at them and with a gentle voice said to the ten year old wearing his biological father's robe, "Pay no attention to them." The overlap of three days, Tai thought about that pink haired girl and had made it his mission to find a way to live in peace with the people and to gain acceptance with the villagers. He composed a love letter to send to the pink haired girl after learning her name: Morgan. On the fifth day, he was approached by the girl and her friends. She was holding up in her left hand the letter he had sent to her.

"Is this your letter?"

Tai smiled and blushed as he nodded his head.

"So you're the one who wrote this poem?" She then read it out loud with her friends giggling as she read the words that came from the scrap of paper. "I like you Morgan. I like you lots. You make my heart melt like milk chocolates. The sun shines wherever you go and melts the deepest patches of snow." She broke up laughing upon reading the last line. "Are you serious? You actually like me?" He nodded his head still blushing, but the smile was now gone. "Well that's kind of you. I like you to you know."

"Really?" He said with a small smile on his face.

She broke up laughing with her friends.

"NO! What person would ever like you, stupid?"

She took the letter and tore it to shreds. Tai backed away slowly as her friends made packs of snowballs and threw them at him while calling him names like garbage and muddy snow. Tai ran all the way back to the area where the outcast lived and stopped near the tree close to his home. He lied in the snow crying heartbroken. Lissy came and saw him weeping. She came over and comforted him.

"There, there, my dear child. Don't cry."

"Lissy… _sniff…_ why…" He looked at her gentle grey eyes. "Why was I allowed to live?"

The following two days later, Tai put up with Morgan and her friends throwing snowballs at him and calling him names. Then it happened. Morgan was hit in the head by a snowball out of nowhere. A voice called out.

"Hey you rotten bullies. Leave him alone!"

Tai looked and saw a dark skin girl with blue eyes and blue hair standing there with a pile of snowballs at her side and a shinai on the other. Morgan called out with a large bruise on her face as the snowball that hit her had a compacted acorn in the center.

"It's that meanie Angel again! How dare you hit me with that horrible snowball? I'm telling my parents on you."

"Go ahead and do it. However, when my family has been cast out, then who will teach the soldiers that defend our village to fight for themselves? Remember that my father is the leader that gives orders to the soldiers when they go fight the heartless. With him gone, the people will look to your family in shame and will rebel to have them all hanged, especially you for doing such a thing. If you don't want me to take out another eye, then get out of here. Snobs like you have business being on this side of the village anyway."

"Mark my word Angel. One day you're going to regret protecting him! When I get into power, I'll have the village Elders cast you out just like they did to Linus and his wife for taking that little monster in."

The girl and her friends ran off. Tai clinched his sides as he had been hit by impacts of snow before running into Angel. Angel then walked to him and wiped the snow off of his robe.

"Thank you… _sniff…_ I don't what else to say."

"Aww don't cry. It's not your fault that she's that way."

"But it is. I wrote a love letter to her and she rejected it. I should have never done such a thing. It's bad enough that my family is met with frowns, but I should have never had done it at all."

"Hey cheer up. We all make mistakes. Like me for example."

"Was it a mistake to save me?"

"Oh no. I don't regret saving you from her at all. My biggest mistake was not hitting her in the eye like she deserved. She may come from a rich family, but that doesn't make her anything special. The villagers believe that without her family and the rest of the rich as well as the guidance of the Elders here, our village would be in ruins. They're completely wrong. Without people who have the heart to fight for what they love, our village would be like the rest of the worlds that didn't join Pangaea." She helped Tai stand up. "I don't like bullying one single bit. It's cowardly and it doesn't help the village at all. It hurts it." She looked at the sky. "Oh it's getting late. I better get home. Ah! I got it! How about you come over to my family Dojo tomorrow… um?"

"Tai. Taisuke Umbra."

"Oh! Okay." She said smiling and blushing. "Come to my family Dojo tomorrow Tai. I'll teach you how to be tough so no one will ever pick on you again. Deal?"

She put her hand out. He smiled and shook her hand.

"It's a deal… Angel."

Tai woke up and sat up in a bed he was lying in. An old man with a long white beard wearing glasses and a blue long cap walked over to him holding a cup of tea.

"Ah… you're awake. For a second there, I thought that someone had turned my place into a body drop off location. I am Merlin. As you can see, I am a sorcerer."

Tai looked at the area he was in as it was now decorated and filled with life.

"Wasn't this place empty when I came in?"

"Oh, about that. Yes it was empty. However, after unpacking some of my stuff as you can see here, it became filled again. Now then, how can I help you Mr…"

"Tai. Taisuke Umbra."

"Hm? Umbra? That's odd. That name sounds familiar. Have we met?"

"I don't think we have. What's wrong?"

"Well, many years back, I heard that the relatives of the Queen of Darkness inherited the throne of Time after the death of Chronis, the late King of Time. I don't recall that the youth I met had a son after ascension. Anyhow, I met the young man once as he was around your age. He had with him a watch that sat present on his breast plate with the time displayed on it."

_A watch? Wait…_ Tai then pulled out the watch from his pocket. Ten minutes had passed. _Could this be from the guy he's talking about?_

"How very peculiar… can I see that watch you have there?"

"I can't get it out of my pocket. It's stuck."

"Stuck? Hm… Let's see." He walked over and looked at the watch. "Amazing. This looks like the same one he had. Could it be? Are you his son?"

"Look. I don't what's going on, but there's no way we can be related."

His photo album slipped out. Merlin picked it up.

"Dear me. You should take better care of your items young man."

"What are you babbling about? That album has always been like that since the day I lost my mom. It's not like I can repair it to its original form."

Merlin then opened the album and saw the family photo.

"Oh my… that's him! That's the King of Time, Umbra. But… what's he doing on Destiny Island not wearing his Kingdom's royal attire? When was this taken?"

"Destiny Island?" _Wait… is that the name of my birth place?_ "To be honest, I believe that it was taken when I was around five. Some of the photos have my mother's handwriting. However, that one doesn't so I have no idea what it was taken."

"Strange… If there is a chance that you are his son, then I better give you as much aid as possible."

"I don't know how that'll help me. You see, I sufficed the same injury on my hand repeatedly as a child and unable to cast magic. Because you're a sorcerer, I'd like to know how I'll be able to cast magic without projecting it out of my hands."

"What? What kind of school did you attend? You're not supposed to cast magic through your limbs. That decreases energy you need to live and it causes internal deterioration that starts on the inside and find its way out. A proper mage would channel the spells through the weapon they use. Who was your original teacher young man?"

"My adopted mother."

"Well young man, your mother might have been taught the use of magic incorrectly. To channel your magic, your heart must be strong and have a powerful reason to fight as well as a sturdy conductor like a weapon imbued with magic. Otherwise, that will happen. Now then," Tai got up from the bed and walked over to the table and sat down with Merlin. "Tell me what weapon you are using."

"I normally fight with a sword, but… right now I have this."

He showed Merlin the Keyblade.

"A Keyblade! Goodness. I didn't know there were more chosen welders in this lifetime as of now. As I have heard from Yen Sid, a young King is training right now to become a Key welder as we speak."

"Must be a brave man of sort."

"Well brave… yes, but man… no." Tai looked at him confused. "The King's name is Mickey Mouse. The last part of his name should let you understand why I said he wasn't a man. A brave fellow I might say."

"A… mouse?! What world did I fall into?"

"Eh… don't look so afraid. He's quite a kindhearted King when you meet him in person."

"Uh okay. So what do I have to do to learn the magic basics? Years of practice and training with you?"

"Practice, yes. Years, no. As of your time, I noticed that the watch is counting down with the hands going the wrong direction. As such, I don't suppose you are object of Chronis's grudge, are you?"

"I don't know. This thing appeared out of nowhere and it's giving me a huge headache carrying around. Also, what are the Eyes? I've heard it a few times and I know nothing about it."

"I see… so there may be a chance that Chronis's heart still carries life. However, fueled by revenge, it's no wonder I had a strange feeling coming back here. He might be planning to destroy this world. Anyway, for now, keep track of your watch wherever you go. Also, you're still using the power of the Keyblade instinctively."He put his hands up and looked to the ceiling. A ball of light then came into the area. "You must learn to control this power. Never forget what I told you."

Seven different colored lights then came down and entered Tai's body. He could feel a warm power within his heart.

_Whoa! This must be what Patty felt like when she obtained certain spells during her time at her family's castle. I can hear the words in my heart. I will use them wisely… to protect what is right._

As Tai left Merlin's place, he looked at the clock. Five minutes has passed. He then checked the list he still had with him.

2. Light the candles at the cafe  
3. Meet Cid and boost the morale of the survivors with him  
4. Stop Centipes from taking out the power for the Town  
5. Return to the basement and put the Lantern out with ice magic

_Looks like someone needs some candles to be lit_.

He then returned to the café where empty tables and chairs sat with unlit candles. Using the Keyblade, he cast fire upon each candle. As he sat down and checked the menu, the café drew in a large crowd. People came by to eat at the tables since the light attracted their attention. After ordering blue soda, he turned and saw the man who had arrived at Traverse Town talking with the kids. He was pondering what to do now that their home was gone. Tai got up and walked to their table.

"Excuse me sir."

The man turned to Tai.

"Who are you?"

"Someone who can help you get back on your feet."

"Ha! That's laughable. We just barely escaped death and you come here telling that joke?"

"Trust me, I have no interest in laughing at your misfortune. However, I am willing to assist you as much as possible, even the kids. I saw those onion people helping you earlier and-"

"Wait. You saw us arrive here?"

"Yeah. I don't know what happened to your home, but allow me to help you out."

"And how are you going to do that? Cooking us a rotten dish?"

"No. I heard that this place is need of people of certain skills that can offer help to this world. What was your occupation before coming here?"

"I worked with transportation. The ship that brought us here was my invention. So what are you going to have me do? Build transportation for weak hearted fools?"

"Not what I had in mind. I interested in if you and the kids here have the heart to fight on."

"Of course we have the heart to fight on."

"Then how about this? Have the kids learn how to fight that way they can protect themselves as well as others. As for you, if you want, there's a job space available at that accessory building next door. Are you interested in going there after your meal?"

"Trust me, I alright had getting a job as top priority coming here." He then pointed his thumb at the children with him. "As for them, you're going to have to ask them if they are willing to train for combat yourself. They're still young, so don't get bummed out if they say no to you."

Tai then turned to the kids, but before they could ask, they nodded their small heads in agreement.

"Really? You want to help?" They nodded again. He smiled. "That's good. To be honest, I wouldn't object to any of your decisions since it's your choice, not mine."

As he walked away, he heard the same voice again and saw the shadow centipede scuttle past him on the walls to the third district.

Fiant tenebrae reficiam vos. (Let the shadows give you rest.)

"Uh oh…" He looked at the street lights. Each one in the area went out, leaving the people in the darkness. Suddenly, he heard screams fill the spot. Tai, unable to see, stumbled and hit one of the street lights. Groping around at the ground, he crawled on his knees until he found the door to the third district. As he got up, he saw something sparking in the distance. Slowly walking towards the sparks, he then figured out what caused the power outage. "Well at least I know where the problem is coming from. The question is how do I fix this?" He looked at the Keyblade as the sparks continued flying out of the pipes channeled through the walls. "Guess I better use my magic." He took the Keyblade and aimed it at the sparking pipe busted open. Tiny flashes of light sparked around the Keyblade as he held it in front of him. "Lightning blast!" A small bolt of lightning struck the opened pipe and soon the lights came back on. Leaning over the Keyblade, he could now see the wall in front of him. However, as he turned around, he also saw a giant group of Heartless in the same area as him.

"Tsk! I don't have the patience to waste on mindless pest like you!"

Taking the Keyblade, he slayed his way through every heartless that charged at him. Suddenly, as another group of Heartless appeared to attack him, a giant centipede like heartless came out of nowhere falling from above and crushed the group that had appeared. Tai jumped out of the way. As he brushed his shoulder off from the dodge roll, the creature roared at him with fury.

Ave Princeps fatum. Novum enim regina paradisi nostri. (Hail the Prince of fate. For he shall help our Queen create a new Paradise.)

"So you're the one who caused that outage? Living in a snow land, it's normally what I see after New Years day has passed. 28 days in darkness. No light. No sky. Lots of blizzards though, and the village below is always lit. Not much to do in the dark though except carry a torch and hope that no one pushes you over a blind cliff. Also, less heat during that time and more people found frozen to death in their homes."

The centipede then laughed at him.

Praesentis vitae tenebris vixisse te video. Gaudeo quod expertus meus. Ego sum Centipes. Ego vero sex custodibus faciat ad rationem pertinet. (I see that you have lived life through darkness in person. I am glad that you experienced it, my Lord. I am Centipes (Centipede). I am one of the six guardians sent to open your true reason of existence.)

"Man, I'm going to have one huge headache when this is over. Look, do me a favor and get out of here. You're really not needed and you're just getting in my way."

Duritiæ ducit ad defectum necnon perditionem. Uti voles, quae te perdidit, stare non currit cum tempore inclinari. Et iter adducet directum ad componendum patiatur heres casum. (Stubbornness leads to failure as well as destruction. To have you running lose and doing as you please will not hold well with the balance of time. Allow me to restore order and set your path straight, heir of Destiny.)

The creature then scuttled quickly around the area of the Third District. As it scuttled, the whole area then changed scenery. As the creature got off of the walls, the structure collapsed. All around the area were cracks on the ground and empty buildings surrounding Tai and the monster.

Ecce meum donum! Temporis ira potestate (Behold my gift! The Wrath of Time's power!)

The creature then started dividing itself into smaller versions of itself and sending them towards Tai. Tai jumped out of the way of each on and then on their backs, slicing them in half. Suddenly, the smaller versions started dividing themselves. Tai jumped away as the Centipede scuttled across the empty buildings with its pieces regenerated, laughing at him as the smaller versions continued to divide themselves. Tai ran and evaded them, trying to collect his thoughts.

"This is bad! Every slash I deliver, they keep dividing themselves and charging at me. What am I supposed to do now?" He then thought about what Merlin had told him.

_You must learn to control this power. Never forget what I told you._

Tai then looked at the Keyblade.

"Wait! I haven't used my magic on the heartless. Especially these types yet. Let's see how much they love the powers of eternal winter." He then turned around and aimed the Keyblade at the scuttling centipede heartless. Snowflakes developed around him and turned the Keyblade into a pure white weapon. "White Breathe!" A strong gust of snowflakes then flew in and wiped the area into a frozen mound. The heartless stopped in their tracks and fell to pieces. The giant centipede then roared and came down off the walls, scuttling across the ground with its many legs, charging at Tai. Tai jumped on its back and ran at its head. Using the white Keyblade, he hacked at the monster's head until it threw him off its back. The creature then burrowed itself into the cracked ground. While Tai ran across the surface, it jumped out of its tunnels and attacked tai from underneath. Tai, reluctant to dodge the attacks, dodged the last strike and then struck it in the head with his Keyblade. The monster crawled to the surface and running to one of the buildings, flipped itself over. Tai then ran up the exposed underbelly and then a cold fusion placed upon the Keyblade, impaled the creature. The monster started to turn white; Still fighting the cold entering its body wiggled back and forth to no avail. As the creature stopped struggling, the scenery then changed back to the inside of the Third District. Tai jumped off of the creature and walked to the monster's head as the body turned white.

"Seeing you turn into a giant Ice sculpture, I wouldn't have mind bringing your frozen body home as a display or a birthday present for Angel. Still, the cracks are starting to make me change my mind."

Prodigiosus ... potentiae Chronis sunt vere praepollens. Exspectabat enim es forte ... (Amazing... the powers of Chronis are truly unrivaled. Perhaps you truly are the one he was waiting for...)

'The one that he was waiting for? What are you trying to say?"

Verum est ... mundi sunt oculi. Sed si sunt hic inspicere. Si dignus erit vobis ostendere veram cordis et corporis pariter. (It is true... that the Eyes are upon this world. However, they are here to watch you. If you are worthy, he will reveal his true form to you: heart and body together.)

"So you're saying that if I'm worthy enough, he will come to? So does that mean I find obtain what I truly am looking for?"

Quod non sit alius. Sed si vis videre, et ideo procedere inveniant. Ave Lumen ex tempore. Quia apud eam inveniemus vitam novam trans nunc. (I cannot be the one to answer that. However, if you wish to see him, then go forward and find that reason. Hail the Light of Time. For with it we shall find new life beyond now.)

The giant heartless then exploded into many snowflakes in front of Tai. A ringing noise then went off from the distance. However, the sound was faster than last time he heard it. He looked at his list:

5. Return to the basement and put the Lantern out with ice magic.

He then looked at the watch in his shirt.

"You got to be joking! I have two minutes left to reach the basement of this world! I got to get out of here!"

Speeding through the town, he saw the people picking themselves up after the outage had caused them to be thrown into turmoil of chaos. He then caught a quick glimpse at the small kids he saw earlier as well as the man with them. They looked calm unlike the rest. The youngest one wasn't crying. He smiled for a split second seeing that they would be okay after he was gone. Upon reaching the basement, he ran inside and saw a circle painted with blue paint around the lantern he saw upon arriving in the world. He stopped in front of it and checked the watch. 30 seconds left. Tai took his Keyblade and aimed it at the small lantern. Calling forth a cold wind, the Lantern then went out. A door then appeared in front of him and opened up. He jumped through and descended into the vast light before him. Returning to the castle, he saw that the light had vanished in the room. However, a small change was made. The Street light he had interacted with was now protected by a large glass case. The street light had returned to its original form, but the name had changed: Traverse Town Street pole. Suddenly, a door appeared parallel where the display rested. Tai then walked through and closed the door behind him. Entering the next room, he saw small rows of bookshelves in the room. The wall talked to him.

_Second bookshelf in the center. Third row. Aqua green._

Tai looked at the wall and then the center shelf. He looked on the third row and pulled out an aqua green book off the shelf. He opened the book and read the content inside.

_Once upon a time, in a world surrounded by the sea, there lived a family: A mother, a son, and a father. They were a happy family, living on a peaceful island. One day, they take a trip to see their family members beyond the sea in a giant airship. The mother and the son board on, but the father does not. As the airship traveled through the air, the son played joyfully alongside his mother. In his hands he dragged around a giant key while his mother tended to sort her book of photos. _

_"Yeah! I'm going to be a hero! I'm going to be a hero! Just like mommy and daddy!"_

_The mother then smiled and closed her book._

_"Come here, dear."_

_He ran over and hugged her._

_"Mommy, you're warm… and you smell like the flowers back home."_

_She then looked at him._

_"Close your eyes, my little hero."__ She kissed him on his head. He looked at her confused. "I want you know this my dear. You are the reason why your father and I are alive. I love you dearly, so I want you to live for our sake."_

_"Mommy, what was that?"_

_"Me imbuing my love to your heart."_

_"My heart?"_

_"I charmed you so you will always find joy, even in the darkest hours. No matter if the light disappears, I always want you to know that within the darkness, there is always light at the very end."_

_"Wow…" He smiled at her in wonderment. "I love you mommy!"_

Tai then discovered that the rest of the pages were missing. Closing the book he looked at the wall.

"Is this some type of a game you love playing? There's nothing humorous in the book I read."

The wall then wrote to him again.

_Take the book with you… and find the missing pages to the story. When the book is complete, you will find out what truly happened in the end._

The door in the room then opened up on the other side of the shelves. Tai then proceeded to the other side.

Meanwhile, somewhere in another world…

"Luneth! Luneth! Wake up! We've been abducted!"

Luneth blinked his eyes and looked up. Arc, Ingus, and Refia were around him. As he looked around, he realized that they had been captured.

"What's going on? Where are we? Weren't we in Wonderland earlier? How did we get here?" He shook his head. "Wait… that hooded person… that's right. We got shocked and… that's all I can remember."

A hooded figure then walked in with another individual behind him.

"Do not concern yourself with where you are. At this moment, you are our prisoners. The reason for you being brought here is for the end of our own concerns." He then walked to the cell they were in. "To whom do you work for?"

"We're… Time Reapers. But we're the original. We use to work for Chronis, the King of Time. Is that what you wanted to know?"

"Do not hold back any knowledge. We have ways of making all of you talk."

Ingus then spoke up.

"Luneth, don't tell him anymore than we should. We made a Knight's Oath to the Lord and Commander to never speak of our true reason of existence."

The figure then looked at Ingus.

"Very well. There are no more questions to ask. Not until start to talk again, of course." He then looked at one of the individuals in the area with him. "Do what must be done, but don't kill them."

The figure stretched out their arms and then removed their hood. It was a woman with two hair strands that pulled back to resemble antennas. She then drew out eight knives.

"Looks like you brats are in for a long night. I hope you don't mind the smell of burning clothes… because more pain for you means more fun for me!"

They got up and drew out their weapons. As they fought the woman, in another world, a man leaned forward in pain. The young man with him picked him up.

"Lord Shinon, what's wrong?"

"Raymond… I feel it… Four of our Reapers are in trouble…."

_To be continued in Chapter 7…_


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Time Cleave! Disney Castle**

Meanwhile, somewhere in another world…

Four individuals were now running down a large space of stairs, covered in burns on their bodies. Larxene was yelling at them as they ran off.

"ROTTEN KIDS! YOU'RE DEAD FOR THROWING THAT BUCKET OF WATER AT ME!"

The four knights then ran out into the open; avoiding the lightning strikes that came down as they ran. Refia screamed in pain.

"Ow! My legs! Every step is a nightmare!" Refia cried out keeping herself from falling over.

Ingus caught her as she was about to fall over. He carried her on his back as they fled in the open space.

"This is bad! They know about our whereabouts! Luneth! Arc! We got to get out of here! We can't let them find out anymore about what powers we contain!"

"I'm with you on that one!"

"As am I! I don't want to face that sadist again!"

Exiting a large castle, they found themselves out into an empty city. It was raining outside, which gave little relief to the burns on their bodies. Approaching an alley, they called forth a dark portal and ran through it. As they now left, a hooded figure stood from afar on one of the buildings.

"They took the bait. Now we'll see if this legend will be real or fake." He put the hood back as the rain stopped. Flourishes of flowers fell from his presence. "Now then, let's see what the King of Time's move is."

~Patty's side~

_A gift from Chronis to those who have pure hearts. When the rose wilts, so too will you wilt away. You and the rose are united. Go forth and seek the truth. From the truth, your true reason shall be found._

Patty looked at the red rose in her hand. It was a huge blossom bud with no thorns on the stem.

"What a pretty rose. I better take good care of it." She then placed the rose in her hair and walked out of the room. As she came out of the round room, the wall now wrote to her:

TRAITOR!

"Traitor? What's going on? I thought the Castle wanted to help me. Wait a minute… why didn't I notice this before? These words… they're written in thinner." She looked around the area she was in. "Could it be that someone else is trying to communicate to me? I wonder… what if there is more than one presence awoken by the Time curse?"

Moving through the area of the castle, she entered into another room. While walking, a swarm of heartless appeared. Patty then summoned the powers of her paintbrush and fought off the pests in her way. Proceeding, she found her way through a hallway containing more unknown relics. Occasionally, the relics would come to life and attack her, forcing the young princess to run. Then she found her way into a room filled with strange items within the area. Each item seemed to have a strange shape to it. They somewhat resembled two small circles sitting on top of a big round one. It reminded her of a mouse a bit with each symbol. Soon she walked up to a display with the dog collar on it.

"Ancient dog collar... Looks pretty ancient all right... The band is about to give out and the tag on the collar is too rusty to read. I wonder whose dog this was and why this relic was important to find?" Suddenly, the room filled with light and the items were restored to a better appearance. The display now read something different. "Pluto's collar? Was that the name of the dog? Why would you name your dog something from the one of the Gods of the Underworld? How curious…" She noticed something about one of the displays in the room. The broom stick sitting in the corner of the area was now moving around, carrying two buckets while the bottom part of it was acting as its legs. "Ah! Why is that broomstick walking around carrying empty buckets? That's so creepy. Hey… their something imprinted on its back. Property of Disney Castle? I guess this room must be the relics of the world after Wasteland, isn't it?" She looked at the paintbrush, which now had a Keychain at the end of the stick. "According to the first relic I interacted with, this is supposed to be the world created after Wasteland. Perhaps Oswald's brother lives here? Maybe if I talk to him, I might be able to figure out why things turned out the way they did. However, if I tell him about that near death experience, will he even care if his brother survived? I guess I better go talk to him."

Patty looked at the brush and then at the dog collar. As she aimed at the collar, a rippling puddle of paint and thinner then started swirling around her.

"Victoria est distingui ab repulsam. (Victory is indistinguishable from defeat.)"

As she held the brush close to her body in fear, the two liquids then encircled the model and created a light blue colored door in front of her. After the paint and thinner died out, Patty walked to the door. Upon touching it, a burst of light engulfed her. As she woke up, she heard the sound of something pattering across the floor she laid on. Looking up, she saw a dog with black floppy ears with a rich colored yellow coat and a black tail. It quickly dashed to her and started sniffing her. Looking at the curious creature eye to eye, she reached her hand out to the panting animal. It then approached her and started licking her face.

"Whoa! Okay, okay! Stop! That tickles! Ha ha ha!"

She then heard a voice in the distance.

"Pluto! Here boy!"

The dog turned its head and barked twice. It looked happy from the voice it had heard. Patty then looked at the dog.

"Oh! You're Pluto?" _Goodness. What an adorable dog._ She then looked at the room she was in. There were strange standing library shelves along the walls. As she slowly got up, she saw the dog take off running out of the room.

"Whoa! Wait a minute, Mr. Doggy! I don't know where I am."

While running, the dog and her path were blocked by a group of Heartless. The dog growled and barked while Patty activated Paint mode and destroyed the heartless before they could come any closer. At certain points, the heartless would strike her arms, causing some bits of the rose to lose its petals. Proceeding down the hallway's twist and turns, Heartless came towards them and each time, Patty cut through them while alongside the dog. As she chased the dog around a corner, she saw the creature run up to what appeared to be a mouse standing on its feet, wearing strange red clothes.

"Aww… Pluto. Good boy. Heh heh! Come on Pluto. Cut it out! That tickles. Huh?"

The mouse then looked at Patty surprised. Patty then screamed terrified.

"A GIANT TALKING MOUSE!"

Both her and the mouse jumped terrified. A voice then called from the hallway they were in.

"Wah! Goofy! The King is in trouble! Hurry!"

"Ahyuck! Donald! Wait for me!"

A duck standing on its feet wearing mage clothing and a strange dog like creature wearing knight's armor came around the corner of the large hallway. The duck then spoke to the mouse.

"Your Majesty! Are you…" He then turned and noticed Patty. "Huh? Hey! Who are you?"

_A giant talking duck… and a giant talking… dog?_

"Oh my!" She yelled with tears in her eyes while she felt dizzy and her eyes swirled. "I don't know anymore!"

She passed out from the overexcitement. The mouse then approached her.

"That's odd… I don't remember seeing her or expecting any visitors. I wonder who she is."

The dog knight then spoke.

"Garwsh… she looked terrified when she saw us. I wonder if she's lost."

The duck then scowled the dog knight.

"Goofy! She's an intruder! If she's here, it means the castle is in danger! Which would explain why there are suddenly heartless coming out of nowhere within the hallways. He then looked at her tear-stained face. "Where did she come from?"

As Patty was unconscious, she dreamt of her memories of living with her Grandma in Castle Cornell. It was her fifth birthday. Her Grandmother came into her room with a large doll in her arms.

"I brought you a present, Patty! Happy Birthday, my little Princess."

The woman smiled at her as the excited child ran towards her.

"Yay! It's a doll!"

"Not just any doll my dear! It's a life size Kilala Reno friend doll from Kilala Princess. I know how much you love hearing the story, so I went out of my way to get you one. As for the other Princesses, I'll be sure to find you the same ones for you. This is a rare doll, so I hope you enjoy playing tea time with it."

"Thank you, Grandma!" She looked at the doll as her grandma sat the doll on her bed. Patty jumped into her Princess bed and looked at the life size doll. "What a pretty doll… Her hair, her eyes, and the clothes she wore in her adventures with the Princesses… _It's almost like she's real!_

Patty then woke up and sat up in a bed she was lying in. The paintbrush was lying next to her while the rose sat in a vase on a table across from the bed. A mouse wearing what appeared to be Queen's clothes talked to her.

"Are you okay, dear?" Patty looked at her scared. As sweet talking the mouse was, Patty seemed shocked with where she was. She looked around the bedroom she was in. "Aww… it's alright. You must not be from this world, but it's okay. My name is Minnie Mouse. I am the Queen of Disney Castle. My husband is the King. He's the one you saw earlier with Pluto. His name is Mickey Mouse."

"Mickey Mouse?" _Wait a minute! That's Oswald's brother. If he's here, then that means I must have found him._ "Oh my!" She clinched her fist and put her head down in shame. "I'm very sorry for what happened earlier, Your majesty. I didn't know this was your home and that you watched over it. I don't know where I am and because I have never been here before I panicked and lost consciousness. Also, I didn't know your home was under attacked by a swarm of Heartless. Are you sure that everything is alright?"

"Oh that's okay dear. I was a bit surprised when I heard you scream, because I didn't know someone else was in the castle. We weren't expecting any visitors because Mickey had just returned from seeing Master Yen Sid."

"Wait! He met with Yen Sid?"

"Oh. Do you know him?"

"Lord Mickey, no. However, I know Yen Sid… kind of. He sort of saved my life. However, to him now, that was a long time ago, I think. I visited him by accident. You see, I'm on a quest to save my brother Raymond and to find the ones responsible for his death. However, my quest took an unexpected turn and my cousin Tai got involved. We got separated in this Castle we were looking into and now I'm trying to find my way back to him. I hope he's okay." She showed Minnie the paintbrush. "The place I visited was carrying an item that Yen Sid used long ago. It's my choice of weapon."

"What a pretty paint brush. I didn't know that Yen Sid could make art tools into weapons."

"Truth be told, this wasn't supposed to be a weapon. However, it ended up becoming one when I found it."

Mickey then came in.

"Oh! You're awake. Thank goodness. From the look on your face, you look like you were losing your mind. Is she alright, Minnie?"

"She's fine. When I checked her, she had something coming out of her chest. I didn't know how to treat it, so I did as much as possible to help her. Then I noticed that the rose in her hair was alive, so I put it in a vase of water because it most have been important to her. It had one petal left, but when I placed it in, it grew back its petals and the hole in her chest disappeared. What an unusual young girl. It's as if the rose and her are one." Mickey smiled and then noticed the paintbrush. His face looked in shock. Minnie took notice. "Mickey what's wrong?"

"That paintbrush… where did you get that from?" Patty looked at him confused at why he seemed concerned. He then looked closely at the robe Patty was wearing and then Patty's face. He then turned to Minnie. "Minnie, can I talk to her for a second?"

"Why yes dear. Excuse me."

She closed the door upon leaving the room.

"What's going on?" Patty asked confused.

He placed his hands on her hand with the paintbrush and fell on his knees. Tears were falling from his eyes.

"I am so sorry."

"Oh don't cry. Wait… What are you sorry for, Your Majesty? I should be the one saying that because this is your home." He then looked at her wiping the tears away. "What is it that you're-?" The paintbrush started to glow. A memory came back to when Patty was about to enter the model back in Yen Sid's workshop. _Whose there? _The presence she sensed back in the shop was now present with her, as it was coming from Mickey. "Wait. This presence… it's the same as the one I felt in Yen Sid's shop. Are you the one whom I sensed?"

"Ah… you remember me, even though we had never spoken until now. Yes, I am the one who you sensed years back… and… I am also the one… who caused that disaster." She looked at him in shock. "I came back after seeing my brother Oswald again."

"Oswald lived? Oh that's good. I don't know if he'll remember me though. I don't know how many years I jumped."

"Wasteland was in danger and he needed my help so I went to save him. Before I left, he and Ortensia asked me if I had seen a young girl with long golden hair that had her left eye covered. I didn't know who they were talking about, but they feared that the thinner disaster might have claimed her life. They said their home was attacked during the Thinner Disaster and that they lost their hearts in the process. They feared that you were among the fallen when that happened. I remembered seeing you before you went into the model and that's when I feared that I had destroyed you."

She clinched paintbrush in guilt.

"I didn't fall. I did what I could to save myself and everyone else. I tried to save their home, but… she came and told me that they could be saved by letting me take her powers. I have so much regret for what I did." She placed her left hand on her left eye. "Oswald and Ortensia as well as the others live, but what have I done? Grandma… I shouldn't have used that spell… had I'd know she was there waiting for me… oh what does it matter? I know nothing of her power nor the way to reverse it."

"Oh… I am sorry. I never asked your name. When I talked to Oswald, he referred to you as Princess Cornell. Is that true?"

She sadly nodded her head.

"It is. I am Princess Priscilla Cornell, but I prefer being called Patty. I am the heir of the land of the crows… Kingdom Cornell."

"Ah… you are the same one. Gosh… Oswald was lucky that you were there. He said it you hadn't been there, everyone would have surely been taken by the Thinner waves. You sure are a brave Princess."

"Tee hee. Thank you."

"However… you look exactly the same since I last saw you. How come you didn't age? Are you a Time Reaper?"

_Time Reaper? Wait, Yen Sid asked about the same thing. I don't know what a Time Reaper is._

"I don't know what's going on to answer that, Your Majesty. I was in a Castle that carries this strange Time curse as well as these old relics before I came here. Whenever the relics were restored, I could go back to the era they came from and meet those of the past. Does any of this make sense to you?"

"A Castle? What was it called?"

"Where I come from, it's called Castle Mordan for the relic hunter who found the items I saw in the old Castle. However, no one knows the true name of the structure or where it actually came from. Sorry that wasn't of much help."

"That's okay. I'm just glad that you're alright." He then turned to the rose. "Oh. I thought this rose looked familiar. Yen Sid told me about this plant. This isn't an ordinary rose, is it?"

"It's called the Tears of Chronis, I think. It is said to be a gift to those of pure hearts."

"Ah ha! That's right! I thought so. Not long ago. I was visiting a King in a world called Radiant Garden when I passed a child carrying a rose of sort, but it was blue.

A flashback of him passing through showed a girl running past him carrying a blue rose to an old lady. She had red hair.

"_Grandma! Grandma! Look I found a blue rose within the pink flowers! Isn't it pretty?"_

"Still, it carried the same characteristics of the one you had. I wonder if there's any connection."

"What could you tell me about the Tears of Chronis?"

"According to the history Yen Sid shared with me, a great battle was going on long before he created Wasteland and before I became King of Disney castle. It was between three individuals of overwhelming power. Two of them were unnamed, as it is believed that their names were long forgotten. They were the King of Light, the Queen of Darkness, and the only one whose name could be remembered: the King of Time, Chronis." Patty shivered as she recalled that the rose water Yen Sid used came from the grave of the Fallen King of Time. "Anyhow, the battle lasted for 30 days until the King of Light fell. Grieving for his fallen friend, it is said that the tears that fell from Chronis scattered across the world below the world of Light and turned into roses. However, one of the tears that came from him after sealing the Queen away came from his dying body that fell to the world below and split into two; scattering through the distorted port of Time that Chronis once held power over. One became a red rose while the other became an unusual color for any rose to turn into… blue."

_Wait a minute… a blue rose? The room with the murals in Castle Mordan… all the murals had a red rose. I don't remember seeing a blue rose unless… wait! The shattered mural of Kilala was hollow… and so was the faceless one. However, I never looked through the hole made in the face so I never knew what was beyond it. What if the mural painted of her is incorrect and that her rose is… blue? Could she be the one that was faceless?_

Suddenly a rumbling shook within the Castle.

"Whoa! What's happening?!"

Patty got up and with Mickey then ran outside of the room and to the throne room. As they ran a swarm of Heartless jumped out at them. Patty activated Paint mode, changing her clothes and slashing through the swarm while Mickey summoned his Keyblade to assist her. As they made it to the Throne room, they saw that the seal guarding it was broken. Donald and Goofy were guarding Queen Minnie and Lady Daisy. They saw a woman standing there in the throne room. She had pale skin with Silver hair wearing a black dress. She giggled and smiled at him.

"So kind of you to recant the history of my defeat to my puppet, young king. However, that is all going to change. For a New Messiah will rise to undo your world as well as all others of the Past, Present, and Future."

"Oh no! The Queen of Darkness!"

Donald and Goofy turned around. Patty and Mickey were armed and prepared.

"Your Majesty! Stand back! We'll take care of her!"

Patty then ran out in front of both Donald and Goofy.

"No… you mustn't send your King or I away. She's too strong to fight with just two people."

The woman then frowned at Patty, as she saw the rose in her hair.

"How dare you betray me puppet? I offered you my help through the powers of Darkness and then go off to form friendship with the light. You need much punishment to remind you who you are dealing with my child."

"So you're the other presence that speaks to me in that Castle? I should have suspected you were leading me down a dirt path. I'm not your puppet. When the heartless attacked me and tried to devour Oswald's home, I knew I didn't stand a chance on my own. However, I have no interest in allowing you to devour another world for your pleasure."

"Tsk, Tsk. You know nothing of my true plans dear. My reason for being here is that I have come to claim something for the sake of your family's upbringing. Without it, you would disappear out of Time."

"No way am I going to allow anymore of your pain to hurt anyone else." She then activated Thinner mode, which turned her paintbrush into a scythe made of thinner. "If anyone is going to disappear out of time, it's you!" She then closed her eyes and spoke to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. "Your Majesty, do not let guilt cloud your judgment. I need your help. Please give me strength. I cannot do this by myself."

"You got it Patty. Minnie! Daisy! Find cover! The Queen's powers are beyond what can anticipate."

"Yes dear!"

As Minnie and Daisy ran out of the throne room and shut the door, the Queen smiled and put her hand out.

"You poor simple fools. Allow me to bring fear into your hearts." The Queen took her Tiara off her head and broke it in half. Suddenly a scythe formed in front of her. "Et nunc ... futilitate! (And now... futility!)"

Taking her scythe, she struck the floor and turned the throne room into a realm where the walls, the ceiling, and the floor were made of stain glass murals. The walls showed 12 princesses circling around the room. The ceiling had a girl with short red hair holding a Keyblade while the other on the floor had long golden hair holding a scythe. Patty, as well as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, freaked out from the change of the atmosphere.

'What's going on?! What is this?"

Patty looked at the ceiling at the stain glass. The feature of the girl was the same as the one that was smashed in back in Castle Mordan. However, this mural now had a name. Patty looked in shock.

_The Princess of Heart from the past… who was she?_ She then noticed something about the mural on the floor. _What the?! Wait! Is that… me? What's going on here?!_

While lost in thought, she didn't realize that Mickey was calling out to her.

"Patty! Patty look out! Above you!"

She snapped back into reality and looked at her neck. The curved silver blade hugged her neck. In the reflection of the blade, she saw the woman hovering above with her sinister grin across her face as she held the handle of her scythe at ease. Then she lowered herself down and grabbed Patty from behind. Her left hand was on Patty's eyes while her right was on Patty's stomach.

"I hope you don't mind becoming art, do you my puppet?" A violet wave then came out of her hands and covered Patty's body. Patty screamed as she removed her brother's robe and threw it on the ground. The waves then turned into Heartless at scuttled across the ground where the robe landed. The woman laughed. "What's the matter? Afraid of being hugged?"

"You're going to pay for that! Thinner mode activated!"

Patty then had thinner swirl around her body. With this mode, her paintbrush became the form of a scythe. The Heartless then came at her as well as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. While slashing at the incoming swarm of Heartless, Mickey covered Patty's blind sides while Goofy provided cover on the other blind side and Donald cast Thunder the Heartless coming from behind. The woman laughed at them.

"Yes! Put on a show! Entertain me."

The Heartless then stopped coming at the group as the woman came down with her scythe again. The group then charged at the woman. Patty swung the thinner scythe at her, bashing the curved weapon with her's. As she hit the scythe, a swarm of Heartless would appear and attacked, covering the whole room they were in. As Mickey, Donald, and Goofy helped keep the Heartless from interfering with the battle, Patty's scythe clashed with the Queen's three times. With this, they engaged with slash out, swinging their blades against each other and creating a blast of energy that surrounded their bodies. Upon the last slash, Patty was blasted back by a violet energy wave. As Patty rolled back and regained her poseur, the Queen stood up and laughed.

"Well played puppet. You are the one I was looking for all this time. However, my time here is over." She then snapped her fingers and soon, the stain glass environment fell to pieces. Patty ran to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy and cast a wind spell to block the falling glass as the scenery returned to the throne room. As the glass disappeared into dust, Patty took the wind spell off.

"Why are you attacking the King's home?"

She smiled at her as her cold eyes glazed back.

"All for the sake of History."

Suddenly the throne room door swung open, a figure dashed over and jumped over the group of heroes. Patty jumped up and swung her scythe at the armored being. Upon both being pushed back, the figure had drawn out its sword. The armor was now cracked. The figure then jumped over and landed next to the Queen. They were wearing grey armor, equipped with an Emerald sword. The feature of its body seemed to resemble a woman's posture. Patty looked at the figure and then the book she was holding. She recognized the book. Queen Minnie and Daisy then ran back into the throne room.

"Stop! Thief!" The figure then looked at Minnie. "We don't know who you are, but give back Yen Sid's enchanted book of records."

Patty became shocked from the words spoken.

_The book of records? Hold on! That's the same book from back at home! Could that thief be…?_

Patty then cast fire at the armored being. The impact knocked the helmet off the figure's head. The face was revealed as the person spoke.

"Dammit! Even my sword couldn't block that attack all the way."

Patty then called out from seeing the person.

"Grandma Sylvia! Oh goodness! What's going on?! Why are you working for the Queen?! I thought you died like Raymond said. Was that a lie?"

"Grandma? What the hell are you talking about? I am one of the six faithful Guardians of my Dark Queen. I am Lupus (Wolf), the fang of sorrow. I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"What are you saying? Don't you remember me? It's me Patty! You know Pattycake!"

"Be silent! My place is serving my Queen, not mortals!"

"Wait! Grandma!"

She then pulled out a glowing sphere and threw it at Patty. Mickey dashed towards Patty and knocked her down.

"Oh no! Look out!"

A blast of Light then went off and engulfed the throne room. As Mickey and the other's regained consciousness, they then felt something wrong. Mickey looked at the floor and around the room. Patty was nowhere to be found.

"Patty! Patty!"

The walls then wrote to him in thinner.

_Do not concern yourself for her wellbeing. If I were you I'd be worried about what is yet to come in a few days from now, little mouse._

"Oh no… Patty!"

Minnie then spoke.

"I'm so sorry, my dear. As we left the throne room, we saw the person coming out of the library and couldn't stop her. She stole the book that Yen Sid gave us at our wedding, but why?"

"The Queen of Darkness said something about keeping Patty from disappearing. I wonder… was this meant to happen? I should see if I can find one of the Time Reapers to figure out why the book was stolen. Maybe… I might be able to find out what happened to Patty." He then looked at the wall that wrote to him. "A few days from now… what could she be talking about? Could she be behind the stars disappearing from the sky at night?"

Patty then woke up back in Castle Mordan. Looking around, it was now dark again. The dog collar was now covered in a glass case with the display name changed: Pluto's collar. Patty felt despondent. She wiped the tears from her eyes, realizing that her life may not have been what she thought it was.

_I don't understand… if that was in the past, then did I run into my grandma before I was born? That can't be right! If she's a Time Reaper then…_ She shook her head back and forth. "Get a hold of yourself. Sylvia would never do such a thing… would she?"

A door then opened parallel from her position. As she walked out into another hallway, she noticed the portraits on the wall were now displaying the phases of a large blade slowly going up each portrait she saw until on the last portrait, it had disappeared.

"That's odd. Where's the blade?" Taking ten more steps Patty then heard something coming down over her. She quickly jumped out of the way to avoid the falling large blade. As it went back up, Patty then ran down the hallway, as now hands reached out for her. "Why? Why is this happening? Does this place want me dead? Brother…"

She reached a room and closed the door behind her. Patty then turned around and looked at the area she was in. It looked like a bedroom.

"What the? What's this doing here? Could this be where that crazy relic hunter rested after coming back?" She walked over to the bed and pulled the sheets down. "How odd. Someone was sleeping here. The bed is still warm. Is this a resting spot?"

The wall then wrote to her in blue paint.

_Take a nap here._

"Now it's using paint? Who could be talking to me now? Hmmm… I am kind of feeling tired out. Maybe I should rest here…"

As she crawled into the bed and lied down, she closed her eyes. While sleeping, light started filling the room. As it touched her, it warped her into an unknown world. Patty then woke up and looked around her. A desolate land with Keyblades stuck into parts of the ground covered the landscape.

"Oh! This must be a dream… I don't think the room I slept in was a display area. Now then… what is this place?"

A voice then talked to her.

"This is the final resting place for those who have lost their reason to continue living." Patty turned around and saw a woman with blue hair holding a scythe. She wore a sapphire mail on her chest and a long dress that showed her wearing brown boots. The blue haired woman then walked over to a Keyblade sitting on the ground. "To the Keyblade Masters, this is a monument for the ones that fell in the war 50 years after the Queen was sealed away with the death of Chronis and the King of Light. To Time Reapers, however, this is the final resting place for our brethren who fell in the line of battle and were turned into Keyblades in the progress of their defeat to aid the Keyblade Masters. Course, no one knew they were Time Reapers. I guess that's the way it's supposed to be right?"

"Umm… I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about. Who are you?"

The woman then turned to Patty.

"I am one of the last servants of the King of Light. My duty here is to find the tears of Chronis and give them to those born pure with light in their hearts. My name is Scarlett Edge. Welcome, young warrior… to the Keyblade graveyard."

_To be continued in Chapter 8…_


End file.
